A propaganda food fight over tragedy,

An interesting post on the Moroccan American forum the "Morocco Board" injects some sanity into an accident that became a propaganda tool.

Two students have succumbed to their injuries on Monday night in Agadir, Morocco, while a third is under observation in hospital after being crushed by a bus.

The victims were among a group of students who had taken over the Agadir bus terminal and demanded transportation to their city that same evening. Having failed to obtain satisfaction, the students set up a barricade in front of the bus station and tried to take over a bus by clinging to the windshield. As the driver manoeuvred the bus out of the station, it hit a wall and crushed the students. Three students were seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital where two of them died of their injuries later that evening.The driver of the bus was taken into custody pending an investigation of the accident.

The statements of several witnesses said that a group of students had demanded to be taken immediately to their destinations. When they were told that they would have to wait a couple of days for available seating, they barricaded the station using stones, then ordered passengers on buses to clear out, and tried to take over a bus.

In statements broadcast in local media, the parents of both victims - from Morocco's Saharan provinces - asked for a fair investigation and a just sentence for the guilty. They also requested separatist Sahrawi groups to cease using their tragedy for political gains.

The Moroccan authorities have denounced the political use by the Sahrawi separatist groups of the incident at the bus depot as a propaganda tool to present a negative image of the Human Rights situation in Morocco. An anti-Moroccan campaign relayed by the Algerian press and audiovisual media was coordinated to intensify close to December 10th, a date commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To mark that anniversary, several Moroccan human right groups deplored violations of human rights by Sahrawi separatist groups, forced disappearances, Guantanamo-like centres established in the Sahara and “gulag camps” around the Algerian city of Tindouf. Thousands of Sahrawi families are forced to live in abject poverty while international human aid is diverted by the Polisario.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news