Morocco: Peaceful Marches Across the Kingdom

This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.

Inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, Moroccans have been taking to the streets since last February 2011, demonstrating week in, week out, calling for a reform of the constitution and for the establishment of a democratic parliamentary system. Peaceful marches were held on Sunday, March 20th, across the kingdom. Minutes of the marches were followed on the Internet via Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Here's some of what bloggers have been sharing from start to finish:

Veteran Moroccan blogger Larbi, live-blogged the marches [Fr]. He writes:

09h50 A Rabat, il fait beau et les manifestants commencent à se rassembler à Bab El Had. Premières photos via Riad:

9:50 In Rabat, beautiful weather, protesters start to gather at Bab El Had Square. First photos via Riad:

Rabat, March 20th – Via Larbi.org

Rabat, March 20 — Via Larbi.org

In Casablanca tens of thousands marched orderly on the city's main streets. Nadia Lamlili shares her thoughts as she arrives at the demonstration:

J ai jamais vu une marche aussi bien organisée. J ai la chaire de poule

I've never seen a march as orderly as this one. I'm having goosebumps.

Politiconaute is also impressed. He tweets:

On s'applaudit nous meme… Lakada kousira hajiz lkhaouf… #20mars #20fev

People burst into applause congratulating each other… The wall of fear has fallen…

Houda (@Houdac) shares her pictures of the march in Casablanca:

Mamfakinch! (Wewon't give up!) — Picture by @Houdac posted on Twitpic

Silmiya! Silmiya! (Peaceful! Peaceful!) – Photo by @Houdac posted on Twitpic

Some of the slogans chanted during the Casablanca march:

For a king who reigns without ruling — Photo by @Houdac posted on Twitpic

As the day advances, something is remarkably absent: police intervention. Nadia Lamlili tweets:

@nadialamlili : La police dans les rues perpendiculaires observe de loin. Une marche dans la dignite

@nadialamlili: Police watching from afar. This is a march in dignity.

On the media, people started speculating about the number of marchers. @m20fev shared this picture on Twitter adding the following comment:

الدار البيضاء الان hado galik 3000, wa baz??

Casablanca now. How can they claim this is only 3000??

Picture posted by m20fev on Twitpic

Videos of the marches started pouring in on social networks from different parts of the country. Overall, demonstrations continued peacefully.

In this video from Marrakech, posted by marouane82, people chat “We want to bring the government down! We want the parliament dissolved!”:

And here, marchers in the city of Kenitra chant “The people want to bring corruption down!” (video posted by mesbahih):

From the city of Meknes this video posted by special20fevrier:

From the city of Fez, this video shows people chanting “My rights are running in my veins, no matter what they do to me” (posted online by mostouz):

Finally this rather shaky footage from the city of Casablanca showing tens of thousands marching orderly in the streets (posted by kafkatim):

This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.

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