lennart
29-01-04, 17:17
Morocco: Police break up anti-US demo
Moroccan police have broken up a demonstration by some 300 people protesting against the country's planned free trade agreement with the United States.
Protesters accused security forces of heavy-handedness when human rights activists and intellectuals gathered outside Parliament on Wednesday.
According to demonstrators, police moved in and violently broke up the gathering using batons.
Security forces said the protest had not been officially authorised and had to be peacefully dispersed. But a spokesman confirmed scuffles did break out among protesters, some of whom had fallen to the ground.
Among those caught up in the incident was Abd al-Hamid Amin, head of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights .
"Policemen hit him on the back and on the head," said Abd al-Ilah Bin Abd Islam, who was with Amin at the time. "They hit him to please the Americans," he added while helping Amine to get back on his feet.
Other witnesses said film-maker Nabil Ayush was also struck.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8FD8B16F-2CDB-4AF3-A0B6-20600BE2CAB8.htm
Moroccan police have broken up a demonstration by some 300 people protesting against the country's planned free trade agreement with the United States.
Protesters accused security forces of heavy-handedness when human rights activists and intellectuals gathered outside Parliament on Wednesday.
According to demonstrators, police moved in and violently broke up the gathering using batons.
Security forces said the protest had not been officially authorised and had to be peacefully dispersed. But a spokesman confirmed scuffles did break out among protesters, some of whom had fallen to the ground.
Among those caught up in the incident was Abd al-Hamid Amin, head of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights .
"Policemen hit him on the back and on the head," said Abd al-Ilah Bin Abd Islam, who was with Amin at the time. "They hit him to please the Americans," he added while helping Amine to get back on his feet.
Other witnesses said film-maker Nabil Ayush was also struck.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8FD8B16F-2CDB-4AF3-A0B6-20600BE2CAB8.htm