More than 10,000 demonstrators marched in Rabat on Sunday in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, denouncing a “war of extermination” and the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel.
At the call of a heterogeneous group of support for the Palestinian cause made up of left-wing groups and activists from the Islamist Justice and Charity movement, the demonstrators marched along Avenue Mohammed V, the beating heart of the capital, under the slogan “Stop the war of extermination in Gaza, stop normalization”.
Many protesters brandished banners criticizing the “destruction of hospitals” and the “colonization” of Palestinian territories.
“Free Palestine”, and “Save Gaza”, were also proclaimed signs.
Chanting slogans saluting the “resistance of the Palestinian people”, demonstrators notably criticized the United States support for Israel in its war against Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“When we bomb massively and without distinction between military targets and civilians, including babies, it is genocide. We must call a spade a spade,” condemned Jihane, a 27-year-old protester.
The war in Gaza was launched on October 7 after the unprecedented attack carried out on Israeli soil by the Islamist movement Hamas, which left 1,140 dead in Israel, according to the authorities.
The retaliatory operations carried out by the Israeli army left 20,424 dead, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
In Rabat, Hachimi Damni, a sixty-year-old demonstrator, “came to express his rejection” of the bombings against civilians and of “normalization with Israel”.
Since the end of 2020, the kingdom has established all-out relations with Israel in return for the recognition by the United States of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Since the start of the war, several large-scale demonstrations have taken place in Morocco to demand a repeal of normalization, whereas before October 7, opposition to this process was limited.
This normalization is a “betrayal”, according to demonstrators last Sunday.
The kingdom officially denounced “flagrant violations of the provisions of international law and the law
