Morocco Orders Inquiry into Illegal Construction Demolitions Amid Citizen Complaints

This instruction from the Ministry of the Interior follows the observation of an increase in complaints from affected citizens filed through bailiffs, without any judicial proceedings being initiated. These administrative inquiry commissions will be tasked with verifying the legality of demolition operations and evictions by authority agents (pashas and caids), and ensuring that the property rights of the concerned citizens are guaranteed and that they have obtained all the authorizations provided for by the texts in force.

According to Hespress, the majority of complaints have been recorded in the provinces of the Casablanca-Settat and Rabat-Salé-Kénitra regions, and particularly concern the demolition of commercial facades (especially cafes and restaurants), the destruction of warehouses and constructions on agricultural land, and other constructions considered anarchic. The complainants have assured that they have not committed any infraction and that the authorities proceeded with the demolition without respecting the required procedures.