Moroccans Go On A March To Open The Border With Algeria

Hundreds of Moroccans go on a march to the border point of Beghal in Oujda, Morocco, demanding the opening of the border with Algeria, while the presence at the Algerian side and precisely at the border post of Colonel Lotfi in Tlemcen (western Algeria) was limited to four citizens, three activists and a Moroccan citizen who is living in Algeria.

The National Gendarmerie and border guards services intensified their presence on the various points where the march was expected to take place, especially in Colonel Lotfi’s border post and the area between Ladjraf on the national road between Maghnia and Marsa Ben Mhidi, where tourists who were heading for the shores of Marsa Ben Mhidi used to stop to and take pictures, especially as the background carries the Moroccan flag in the opposite road that is leading to the beach of Saidia.

Parties which refute the march confirmed that the protest does not contain peaceful and innocent goals, adding that the facilities which were provided by the Moroccan civil and security authorities to the protesters who marched with the Algerian and Moroccan flags confirm that the march is a plan that was prepared by the Mekhzen.

A citizen from Maghnia (western Algeria border city) said that after exhausting all means, the Kingdom of Morocco is seeking public pressure to incite citizens and push them to open the border wishing to revive the eastern side of Morocco, whose government is facing a bomb of great popular anger in the past few months, after the high rates of poverty and unemployment since Algeria’s decision to combat the smuggling in the country’s western side.

This has made Moroccan cities such as Ahfir, Oujda and Beni Derar sink into the quagmire of unemployment, where the majority of population lives from the smuggling of products that are supported by the public treasury.

On the other hand, the observers asserted that the Kingdom of Morocco took advantage of a sensitive time, especially after Algeria stood with the file of the Kingdom of Morocco to organize the World Cup, despite the rejection of several Arab countries to nominate Morocco at the expense of the file of America and its allies Canada and Mexico, and later Algeria’s intention to submit a join nomination file to organize the World Cup with Morocco and Tunisia, then the Mekhzen tries to exploit the matter and move to the paper of popular pressure for gains, but the response came from the Algerians who refused to bow to unknown Facebook calls.