Morocco Lawmakers Probe Police Brutality in COVID-19 Lockdown Enforcement

Compliance with the state of emergency has required some strong measures taken by the law enforcement, the video sequences of which are debated on social networks. Some videos were shared to prove the mobilization of the law enforcement in the application of the planned measures. Others had the opposite effect by arousing the indignation of Internet users. This is the case for videos showing citizens being beaten, slapped or mistreated under the camera lenses.

The deputy and president of the Socialist Group of the First Chamber stressed in his oral question that these behaviors are "unacceptable", denouncing that citizens violating the measures of the health emergency state are slapped and beaten in front of the cameras, "as if the country was not governed by laws". Amam Chokrane felt that such behavior could be detrimental to the efforts made to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Consequently, the head of the Socialist parliamentary group questioned the Minister of the Interior about "the measures his department would take to avoid abuses in the application of the law".