Morocco's gag on dissent in Rif region fuels exodus to Europe
Crackdown on Hirak movement protests has contributed to threefold increase in attempts to cross western Mediterranean
In Hoceima’s Mohammed VI Square – the scene of year-long unrest in this clifftop city in northern Morocco – a giant rainbow can be seen in the sky above the Mediterranean.
On the ground, however, the lives of the ethnic Amazigh people in the impoverished Rif region are less colourful. Officers in riot gear pack the square in preparation for protests around the anniversary this week of the death of a local fishmonger, Mouhcine Fikri.
Fikri was crushed to death in the back of a rubbish truck in 2016 as he tried to retrieve his catch, which had been confiscated and binned by the police. The truck’s mechanical crusher killed him in a street close to the square, sparking a popular uprising that spread nationwide.
