Tangier Residents Protest Eviction Order for 5,000 in Historic Neighborhood

Anger in Tangier after a judgment requiring the expulsion of the inhabitants of the "Hawmat Chouk" neighborhood - built in 1982 and which has about 5,000 inhabitants, around 1,704 houses - from their homes. On October 25, 2023, many of them protested against this judgment in front of the court of first instance. "I have been living in ’Houmat El Chouk’ for 60 years and I gave birth to 9 children there. I was surprised by this summons from the court," said a widow who risks being evicted if the judgment is executed, to the website Al Youm24. According to the coordinator of the families of this neighborhood, Omar Abrich, the inhabitants had come by the thousands to the court to support the summoned families. "They know that if an eviction decision is rendered, it will open the door to other evictions," he explains.

The dispute concerns a 14-hectare plot of land, registered under number 8185/K, owned by the real estate company "Charaf Immobilier" whose majority capital is controlled by a certain Albert Boumendel of Jewish faith. After the deaths of Mohammed Arbai (a great family in Tangier) and Allal El Bakhti Taib who respectively owned 30% and 20% of the capital, their heirs are claiming the domain. To date, no sign of Albert Boumandel or his heirs. This is how in 2002, Mohamed Al Ansari, lawyer of "Charaf Immobilier", filed a complaint against the urban commune of Tangier, blaming it for having authorized the construction of a residential neighborhood equipped with all social facilities on private land. After a long legal battle, the court decides to compensate the real estate company with an amount of around 44 million dirhams on the basis of 1,100 dirhams per square meter, plus 2.1 million dirhams as compensation.

However, this judgment will not be applied due to the lack of holding of the general meeting of shareholders for several years, "Charaf Immobilier" being a joint-stock company managed, according to the law, by a board of directors. Some heirs then turn to justice to settle this problem. In July 2009, the Tangier Commercial Court appoints Fouad Mouhi, a former human resources director at the Ministry of Justice, as a judicial commissioner responsible for holding the general meeting with a view to transforming it into a limited liability company. After postponing the meeting scheduled for September 28, 2016 due to lack of quorum - absence of Albert Boumendel and his heirs -, the meeting will finally be held on October 19, 2016 without the same people. Albert Boumendel would have died and his heirs would know nothing of this whole affair. "Charaf Immobilier" is transformed into a private limited liability company. The change in status thus allows the heirs of Mohammed Arbai and Allal El Bakhti Taib to exercise their legal powers.