Belgian NGO Cancels Morocco Volunteer Program Amid Shorts Controversy

"On the advice of the Belgian authorities, it has been decided not to authorize a new group to go to Morocco in the current circumstances and given the great uproar around this affair which has found an echo in the press and social media," says a note published on the website of the Belgian NGO, Bouworde.

Yet "Bouworde has been working in the Taroudant region for more than 15 years, to help the local population, through the construction of water distribution canals, schools and women’s centers. This is done at the request of local village officials and in close collaboration with them".

A group of Belgian girls volunteering, in shorts, on a construction site in the south of the country, received threats from a 26-year-old teacher, who launched a "call for beheading". He was arrested by the police.

According to local media, the man’s call for beheading refers to the murder of two Scandinavian tourists, perpetrated in 2018 by radicalized Moroccans, in the name of the Islamic State group.

Even Ali El Asri, a deputy of the Islamist party (PJD, at the head of the governing coalition), went so far as to comment: "Since when do Europeans work in beach attire on construction sites? Everyone knows their level of security requirements, to the point that no one can access a construction site without wearing a thick suit covering the entire body and wearing a helmet and gloves".