GenZ 212 : Zineb Kharroubi, a figure of protest in France, arrested in Marrakech

The arrest took place on Thursday, February 12 in the middle of the afternoon, as the young woman was returning to Morocco for family reasons. Immediately transferred to the premises of the judicial police in Casablanca, she was presented to the King’s Prosecutor the next day. The latter notified her of serious charges: "incitement to participate in an unauthorized demonstration" through online publications. Although she was released pending her next hearing scheduled for February 26, Zineb Kharroubi had to face justice without legal assistance, as the lawyers of the bar are currently on strike, reports Le Monde.

Zineb Kharroubi is an active voice of the French branch of the GenZ 212 collective, born in the fall of 2025 to demand better access to education, health and fight against corruption. From France, she has contributed to structuring this movement, which claims 400 members in the country and has organized several gatherings, such as the one at the Trocadéro last October. The collective uses platforms like Discord to coordinate its actions and support prisoners of opinion.

This new arrest confirms the hard line adopted by the authorities, even as street demonstrations have ceased since mid-December. The toll of this wave of repression is heavy: according to the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), nearly 5,700 people have been arrested since the beginning of the movement. To date, about 2,100 young people are still incarcerated, some serving sentences of up to 15 years in prison, while hundreds of others are still awaiting trial.