Maghreb: Anger in Tunisia and Morocco over poorly managed lockdown

Posted On 1 April 2020

Number of times this article was read : 159
Mnilha, Tunisie, March 31, 2020 – Several hundred Tunisians demonstrated in a working class district of the capital Tuesday, demanding government support and protesting a week-old lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately impacted the poor.   “Nevermind coronavirus, we’re going to die anyway! Let us work!” shouted one protester. “Let me at least bring bread home for my children,” the bricklayer told AFP.   In poor areas like Mnilha and Ettadhamen on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital, healthcare facilities are limited and the many people who work as day labourers are without income because of coronavirus containment measures. “I haven’t worked in 15 days,” a woman named Sabiha said.  On Monday, angry residents marched to the local government office to demand welfare payments and permits to leave their homes. Some even blocked roads and burned tyres.
Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh announced on March 21 a 150 million dinar ($52 million 48 million euro) economic support package for those worst affected by the lockdown but did not say when it would be distributed.  Then on Monday the ministry of social affairs announced that payments would be distributed from March 21 until April 6, causing a rush to local government offices to register. “We’re trying to tackle the epidemic. But every day it’s the same and they’re gathering in front of the office,” Mnilha councillor Imed Farhat told AFP.  “We’re asking law enforcement to intervene. But what can we do? We have to listen to them.”
Police have arrested 1,119 people for violating the night-time curfew in place since March 17 and 242 for violating lockdown orders in place since March 22, interior ministry spokesman Khaled Ayouni said. He did not say how many were still detained.
Meanwhile the presidency announced on Tuesday it would release 1,420 prisoners in an amnesty to alleviate crowding in prisons.  According to the statement, President Kais Saied also ordered increased sanitation measures in jails. Tunisia has officially reported 312 cases of COVID-19 since March 2, including 10 deaths. The pandemic has halted tourism, a key sector for Tunisia, and numerous businesses and non-essential activities have been closed since March 4. Originally scheduled to end on April 4, the lockdown is expected to be extended.

And in Morocco

Isolation to keep coronavirus at bay is a tall order for Moroccans like Abdellah, who is supposed to spend days cooped up indoors without sunlight in an impoverished neighbourhood of the capital Rabat. So he stays out in the street. “I know social isolation is a must. But it’s just not possible to stay home all day,” says the 49-year-old street trader who lives with his wife and three children.

Ever since a March 20 lockdown, flats in densely-populated areas like Takadoum, which is packed with concrete buildings up to four floors high with tiny windows, can feel like virtual prisons. Those who respect the stay-at-home rules gather inside the gates of the buildings just to kill time. Many venture out.

“We’re just overcrowded and it’s not easy,” said Soufiane, 32, who lives in a two-bedroom flat with his parents and five siblings, although he is aware of “the seriousness of the illness and importance of quarantine”. Soufiane made a living by selling clothes at a local market, which is closed and whose neighbourhood is hemmed in by checkpoints.

Neighbour Abdelkhalek, 52, said his five-member family could put up with living “on top of each other in 40 square metres (430 sq ft) but how can we do that without an income?” He continued: “Conditions to live a decent life just don’t exist in many homes.” Moroccan authorities have deployed police, soldiers and even armoured cars in some towns to enforce the lockdown, as the country’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose to 33 on Tuesday out of 574 declared cases.

Apart from isolation measures, which have been imposed around the world, Morocco has also adopted economic and social measures to assist companies, workers and those dependent on social services. State aid of between 800 and 1,200 dirhams ($80 to $120) is to be allocated for needy families to weather the crisis, from a $3.2-billion emergency package also funded by corporate and private donations. But you need to be registered, and the bulk of the North African country’s workforce is made up of “informal workers”. “I’ve got nothing at all. How am I going to buy my food? I really don’t know, I’m lost,” said Soufiane.

Rare distraction

Every night from 6:00 pm, security forces, normally wearing sanitary masks, patrol the narrow alleyways of Takadoum. “Go inside, it’s better for you! Protect yourselves from this terrible disease!” an officer called out over a loudspeaker. Most comply without hesitation, others dash out for a last urgent bit of shopping, while some re-emerge once the patrol is gone. The routine, watched from small windows and rooftops, often filmed on mobile phones, provides one of the rare distractions of daily life under lockdown.

Around 450 people have been arrested for breaching the public health state of emergency across Morocco, according to the latest official figures. Penalties include up to three months in jail and fines of up to 1,300 dirhams ($130), or both.

By AFP
Other Articles in this Week's Issue<< Africa: How to lock down a 20-million-people city?Algeria: Inner-clan warfare continues inside the regime, ex-head of police gets stiff prison sentence >>
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