Moroccan Border City Fnideq Struggles with Surge in Homeless Migrant Youth

The intention of these adolescents who, as Omar Yassini, an associative actor in Fnideq interviewed by Hespress, "live and sleep in the street," is to illegally reach the city of Ceuta, hoping to be placed in reception centers, in order to be able to join Europe one day. "Instead of attracting investments and projects, Fnideq now attracts homeless people, which aggravates the economic and social situation of the city, which is experiencing an increase in drug addiction, alcoholism, begging, and theft," laments Mohamed Azouz, an activist, calling on officials to "intervene urgently to put an end to this situation."

For her part, the deputy of the Constitutional Union (UC) in Fnideq, Khadija Zayani, said that a large reception center for homeless children had been built in the city in order to train them and promote their social reintegration. On site, it is adults who currently occupy the center. And given the limited capacity of this center, the teenagers no longer find a place there.