Algeria protests against Moroccans over national anthem insulting

Football Algerian Federation presented a petition to the African Football Confederation (CAF) through official canals over a provocative attitude of Moroccans towards the national anthem and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The federation’s representative and the head of the Algerian delegation in Morocco Ahmed Mebrak submitted a report to the match commissioner Hassan Mhamadine complaining of roughshod behaviour of Moroccan supporters who swished on the national anthem and insulted President Bouteflika during the match.

The match commissioner is expected to present the report to the CAF while Moroccan sides said that behaviour was no more than a response after the Moroccan anthem had been interrupted in a match in Algeria. Sufficient justifications were presented to say that a technical problem was behind that. Algerians apologized for that and President Bouteflika opened an investigation in the issue.

Around 10,000 Moroccans attended a match between their national squad and the Algerian one Saturday in Fes. Some of them started swishing on the Algerian anthem while others insulted the Algerian president and repeated Western Sahara, Morocco-related slogans.