Casablanca Residents Prompt Closure of Unauthorized African Migrant Churches

The anger of the residents of the Hay Hassani neighborhood has been heard by a number of property owners. They have recently begun to empty their premises of equipment and instruments that were used to perform religious rites inside unauthorized churches, operated by migrants from sub-Saharan African countries. They have also given up renting their premises to African migrants, reports the website Al3omk.

This refusal follows repeated complaints from residents of the Hay Hassani neighborhood reporting the transformation of these premises and ground floors into illegal places of worship, where religious rites are practiced marked by loud sounds and behaviors deemed worrying and contrary to the law. These residents have filed complaints with the governor of the prefecture of Hay Hassani districts and the king’s prosecutor at the court of first instance in Casablanca, demanding urgent intervention to put an end to the nuisances caused by these behaviors, due to violations of public morals and the noise caused by musical instruments during religious rituals, and this, until late hours of the night.

After filing complaints with local authorities without success, they commissioned a bailiff to record the transformation of several garages and residential premises into unauthorized churches and temples. They also referred the matter to the public prosecutor. In their complaint, the residents specified that more than 100 people of African nationalities attend these religious rituals. They also assured that they had tried to dialogue with the owners, without getting any response. Their anger has just been heard.