Morocco Erupts: GenZ Protests Shake Nation as World Cup Spending Sparks Deadly Clashes

Three people were killed by gunfire on Wednesday, October 1st in Leqliaa, a locality near Agadir, when the security forces opened fire on protesters. The Ministry of the Interior stated that the shots were fired during an "attempt to seize police weapons", a version that no witness has been able to corroborate so far. Hundreds of other people were injured.

This movement, initiated online by an anonymous group calling itself "GenZ 212", is protesting against corruption and the government’s budgetary priorities. The protesters denounce the billions invested for the 2030 World Cup while public services, such as hospitals and schools, are considered deficient. "The stadiums are there, but where are the hospitals?" is one of the slogans chanted.

Faced with this escalation, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said he was "open to dialogue" on Thursday in an attempt to end the protests. At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior reported significant material damage in 23 provinces, including hundreds of vehicles and many public and private buildings damaged.

The "GenZ 212" group, for its part, claimed to reject violence and called for new "peaceful demonstrations", urging participants to "respect the peaceful nature" of the movement. On the legal front, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights reported the arrest of a thousand people since the start of the protests, the most violent the country has seen since the events in the Rif in 2016.