Overview
- Weeks of demonstrations in more than a dozen cities are set to continue with protests expected Saturday, as crowds decry corruption and World Cup spending while youth unemployment nears 36 percent.
- Coordination runs through Discord, where a core Gen Z 212 server has grown to roughly 180,000 members and local spinoffs organize marches independently.
- Security forces have mixed crackdowns with retreat, including mass arrests, three fatalities from police fire near Agadir, an injury from a police van in Oujda, and court sentences of four to 20 years tied to vandalism and incitement.
- Protesters sent a letter urging King Mohammed VI to dismiss the government, free detainees and convene an accountability forum, as the king defended advancing large projects alongside social programs in a parliamentary address.
- Morocco’s unrest is part of a wider Gen Z wave that ousted Madagascar’s president this week, forced Nepal’s prime minister to resign in September and triggered cabinet changes in Indonesia and a leadership shift in Peru.