The tourist police in Fez have been engaged in a major crackdown on the growing phenomenon of the false guides. Since the beginning of 2017, 746 people have been arrested for illegal practice of this profession
Back in the 21st of February 2017 came the announcement that the police forces had arrested more than 400 people. Between 1st January and February 19th last, the brigade of the tourist police in the prefecture of Fez detained 410 people who were operating as guides without permission.
These 410 persons were all recidivists and were placed in preventive detention and their files transferred to the public prosecutor's office.
The crackdown continued and the numbers grew to a total of 746 false guides arrested up until the 31st of March.
These false guides worked without legal authorisation inside and outside the old Medina of Fez.
The vast majority of offenders in the second wave of arrests were (with one exception) not repeat offenders.
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4 comments:
We all know that the medina is still and will always be full of young lads (that could not even be considered as false "guide" as they have no clue about a tiny bit of facts about the medina) and that the Touristic Police does nothing because they are part of the game. Climb up Zkak l Bghal after Qetanine and you have 10 harassing you - go to Chouara and Derb Touil, its 50. Not to mention all the ones screaming "Closed Closed" everywhere foreign people pass to scare these poor medina tourists and eventually drive them to a carpet shop or the tanneries. Pure hell. And this wont change. on
Talked to some of the shopkeepers who say they are very happy with the police action, but warn that they need to continue to keep an eye on the problem on a daily basis
False guides are a problem in every tourist area in countries around the world. The best approach is to educate tourists to check that a guide is registered. Thankfully, Fez has less of a problem than places like Rome!
Thankfully I have never been hassled on my three trips to Fez (love the Medina) - If I get lost young people often help me, but have never asked for money. Keep up the great blog
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