Controversy Erupts Over Viral Images of Chained Street Vendor in Morocco’s Safi Province

The day after the dissemination of this viral image and video, the reaction of the province of Safi did not take long. The local authorities wanted to "correct the allegations and inaccuracies that accompanied" this image and this video.

For the province of Safi, "the person appearing in these images is a street vendor who, to protest, chained himself up with a chain around the neck in order to prevent the work of the Local Commission responsible for organizing street vendors and freeing up the public domain along the Al Baraka market, in Safi".

Moreover, the province explains that the vendor, in order to thwart the decision of the authorities, "had also mobilized and encouraged street vendors to display their goods on the public street in front of the market in question, threatening to commit suicide if he was prevented from selling on the street". However, the province reassures that it has allocated the person concerned a "space to sell his goods on the Al Baraka market without the latter wanting to occupy it".

Seeing the members of the Commission, the street vendor fled to take refuge in a pharmacy, before being arrested by them, in order to prevent any suicide attempt.