On Monday evening, the scene was similar to the weekend during the third day of youth protests witnessed in the capital Rabat, as in several other cities across the kingdom. Crowds of protesters were dispersed and gatherings preemptively prevented by various formations of public security forces heavily deployed in Bab Al-Had Square and its surroundings since 6 PM, following a protest call promoted by what is known as “Gen Z 212” (Generation Z).

Hespress newspaper observed that public authorities, with a strong security presence, prevented various forms of gatherings by some youths before some were taken to police vehicles that cordoned off the area. Some interventions by auxiliary forces and local authorities involved “hit-and-run” actions with some demonstrators chanting slogans such as “Freedom, Dignity, Social Justice.”

The protest activities, called for at the same time in Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, El Jadida, Tangier, Agadir, Tetouan, Oujda, and Nador via a social media chat application, lasted about two hours (until 8 PM), ending with chases near Bab Central Market of Rabat, entrances to the old city, and Souk Al-Keza.

Meanwhile, several security and local authority members were seen asking citizens passing through Bab Al-Ahad Square to move away to ensure freedom of movement and facilitate traffic, especially around the roundabout on Hassan II Street near the central headquarters of the Istiqlal Party.

The famous square in Rabat also witnessed arrests among the “Gen Z” movement, which says it protested demanding reforms in health and education sectors and “fighting corruption,” as was the case over the past weekend.

It is noteworthy that the “Gen Z” protests were not called for by any known union, political party, or organized body, while numerous posts calling for protests proliferated over the past three days using the Discord app and website, primarily designed for electronic gaming enthusiasts and professionals.

The Moroccan News Agency quoted a security expert stating that “the intervention of public forces to prevent gatherings called by unknown parties over the weekend was carried out with a balanced approach that preserves the foundations of public order and ensures the safety of these forces and the protesters.”

The same expert explained that based on a local authorities’ decision banning gatherings called by unknown parties in several Moroccan cities, based on unknown conversations on social media, especially on a virtual chat application, the public forces implemented standard security protocols on Saturday and Sunday to ensure enforcement of this decision.

He emphasized that preventing these public gatherings and illegal participation in them “was the ultimate goal of the security arrangements adopted by the public forces,” noting that “for this purpose, units in official uniforms and others in civilian clothes with distinctive visual identification of the public forces were deployed, and these units were not equipped with any functional weapons or usual intervention means such as batons, water cannons, or tear gas, which are standard tools for dispersing gatherings.”