STF NA MÍDIA
STF NA MÍDIA
STF NA MÍDIA
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Thousands Revive Protests in Morocco<br />
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •<br />
THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) • INTER<strong>NA</strong>TIO<strong>NA</strong>L • 18/9/2011<br />
By THE ASSOCIATED<br />
PRESS<br />
CASABLANCA, Morocco<br />
(AP) —At least 3,000 people<br />
marched through the streets<br />
of Casablanca, Morocco’s<br />
largest city, on Sunday, chanting<br />
slogans against government<br />
corruption, as the country’s<br />
pro-democracy movement<br />
attempted to regain<br />
momentum that was lost over<br />
the summer.<br />
Like many other Arab nations,<br />
Morocco was swept by<br />
mass protests starting in February,<br />
but in recent months<br />
the protests have petered out<br />
and at one point stopped altogether.<br />
King Mohammed VI, the<br />
head of state, remains popular<br />
with much of the country,<br />
and appears to have co-opted<br />
much of the dissatisfaction<br />
by promising reforms. The<br />
Constitution has been a-<br />
mended to give more powers<br />
to the prime minister and<br />
Parliament.<br />
But activists say the a-<br />
mendments changed little<br />
and complain that final authority<br />
still rests with the<br />
king and his court. So the<br />
pro-democracy group called<br />
the February 20 Movement<br />
restarted its protests last week.<br />
The crowd it mustered to<br />
march on Sunday through<br />
downtown Casablanca was<br />
about half the size of those<br />
seen earlier in the summer.<br />
The march featured activists<br />
wearing masks portraying<br />
three of the king’s top counselors,<br />
riding backwards on<br />
donkeys.<br />
“Head of the army, it’s too<br />
much — head of the religion,<br />
it’s too much,” chanted the<br />
crowd, referring to some of<br />
the many powers the king<br />
keeps under the newly amended<br />
Constitution.<br />
Another 2,000 people demonstrated<br />
in the port city of<br />
Tangier, and the crowds there<br />
went as far as chanting for<br />
the fall of the government —<br />
a common slogan in other<br />
Arab countries, but rarely<br />
heard in Morocco.<br />
Morocco will hold parliamentary<br />
elections on Nov.<br />
25. In the past, political parties<br />
in the country have been<br />
weak and easily manipulated<br />
by the royal court, the Parliament<br />
has had little power<br />
and the prime minister was<br />
selected by the king. Under<br />
the new Constitutional reforms,<br />
the party with the largest<br />
number of seats in Parliament<br />
will form the new government<br />
and name the prime<br />
minister.<br />
S T F N A M Í D I A • 2 2 d e s e t e m b r o d e 2 0 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P Á G I N A 1 7 8
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