Rabat, Feb 20, 2019 – Moroccan security forces Wednesday fired water cannon at public school teachers demonstrating in Rabat and wielded batons to block their route to the royal palace, injuring dozens, AFP correspondents said. Ambulances evacuated the injured to hospital. The incidents came as thousands of public school teachers took to the streets of the Moroccan capital to protest against fixed-term contracts which have been in force since 2016.
The demonstrators gathered in central Rabat holding up banners that read “no to fixed-term contracts” and “no to the dismantling of public schools”, before some protesters decided to march on the royal palace. Calls for an “end to dictatorship” in the North African kingdom were also chanted. The protest went ahead with backing from trade unions and Morocco’s banned but tolerated Islamist movement Justice and Dignity. They also coincided with calls by trade unions for a nationwide one-day strike in the public sector on Wednesday to protest against inflation.
By AFP
