In Morocco, second week of mobilization against the vaccine pass

Several demonstrations took place again on Sunday, November 7 across Morocco to protest against the anti-Covid vaccine pass put in place by the government, according to AFP and local media.

In Rabat, the police squared the square where an unauthorized rally was to be held in the city center, with around 100 demonstrators dispersed in the neighboring alleys. About twenty people were arrested, noted an AFP journalist.

If the opponents of the vaccine pass were less numerous in the capital than last week, they gathered in greater number in Tangier (north), according to videos broadcast by the local media Analkhabar. “Down with the vaccine pass”, chanted several hundred demonstrators in the port city.

In Casablanca, the economic megalopolis of the kingdom, the protesters were dispersed by the police who also proceeded to arrests, according to the information site Hespress. However, it was not possible to quantify the total number of protesters, nor that of arrests.

More than 22 million Moroccans vaccinated

On October 21, Morocco launched an anti-Covid vaccine pass, the first in a Maghreb country. All enclosed places, including hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops, sports halls and hammams are now subject to the pass requirement.

The pass is also required to access public, semi-public and private administrations, as well as to leave the kingdom or to travel between prefectures and provinces.

While a large majority of the population approves the vaccination, the compulsory nature of the pass to gain access to public spaces has raised protests, especially on social networks. An online petition collected tens of thousands of signatures, lambasting the establishment “Arbitrary” of the sanitary pass.

Morocco, where the contaminations and deaths curve has been steadily decreasing for ten weeks, wants to immunize 80% of the population, or 30 million people. To date, more than 22.2 million Moroccans have received a second dose of the anti-Covid vaccine.