Authorities block protest against Israeli flag display at Agadir exhibition
Local authorities in Agadir thwarted a planned protest on Sunday, February 9, 2025, in front of the Alliotis exhibition center. The protest aimed to oppose the participation of an Israeli delegation, according to a statement from the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization.
The Observatory issued a statement condemning what it described as «authoritarian repression» to stop the protest against the display of the Israeli flag at the Alliotis exhibition in Agadir.
It criticized the event, stating: «In a flagrant violation of the legal and political duty to criminalize and prevent any form of presence or appearance of the terrorist Zionist entity and its symbols inside the national territory, Moroccans followed with great anger the incident of raising the Zionist flag in the city of Agadir during the activities of the international exhibition 'Alliotis' for marine industries».
The Observatory described the scene as «a disgraceful display that blatantly contradicts the firm and declared Moroccan popular position in the streets, marches, and events, especially amid the escalating genocide committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza, as part of the Al-Aqsa flood battle, in which the city of Agadir was strongly present through dozens of popular pro-Palestinian events».
It argued that the prohibition of the protest, organized by the Moroccan Initiative for Support and Advocacy, against the raising of the Israeli flag at the exhibition, underscores «an authoritarian trend to impose normalization on the Moroccan people and suppress any popular expression of the categorical rejection of this Zionist penetration into various fields in the country».
The Observatory concluded that «this ban reveals once again that normalization in Morocco is neither a popular nor a national choice, but rather an authoritarian decision isolated from the free will of the masses».
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