In Northern Morocco, many illegalised migrants and refugees are stuck, waiting for a chance to cross over to Europe. These past months, racist harassment has increased, particularly in Boukhalef, a quarter on the
outskirts of Tangier.
In the night between the 29th and 30th of August, this culminated in the stabbing of a young Senegalese migrant named Charles. The migrant community immediately responded to the murder by taking to the streets, protesting against this extreme form of racism.
This led to several confrontations between police and migrants: police were using water cannons, beating up people and arresting 29 of the protesters over the next couple of days. All in all, three (official
numbers) or up until six people were killed during these events. Some of the arrested activists were deported back to their country ‘of origin’, some were sentenced to a month in prison and a fine of 1000 dirham (100 euros). Others were held in the basement of the Casablanca airport for days, starting a hunger strike in protest against the conditions they were being held in. When they were finally released, they were also burdened with a fine of 1000 dirham. At the moment, seven activists are forced to pay this fine and will face further repression if they fail to do so. For an illegalised migrant, with hardly any possibility of finding work in Tangier due to racism, resentment and economic crisis, this amount of money is close to impossible to raise.
Therefore we call for activists and groups in Europe to show solidarity by donating whatever amount of money is possible. People here are facing the consequences of the racist EU border policies on a daily basis, but are fighting back despite the repression.
We urgently need these 700 Euros so that the seven activists can have one less worry and continue their struggle. If you, or people from your network are able to donate some money, if your group or collective has
any left-over funds, please get in touch with nobordersmorocco@riseup.net We will then send you our account details for transferring the money.
SOLIDARITY – NO BORDERS MOROCCO
www.beatingborders.wordpress.com