Morocco has recorded its first deaths since massive youth-led protests erupted nationwide, with state media confirming that police shot and killed two people on Wednesday evening in Lqliaa, near Agadir.
Officials said officers opened fire to stop protesters from storming a police station, calling it an act of “legitimate self-defence.”
The killings mark a major escalation in unrest that began on Saturday, when thousands of young Moroccans many identifying with the online movement GenZ 212 took to the streets to protest against government spending priorities..
Demonstrators have condemned Morocco’s decision to build new stadiums for the 2030 FIFA World Cup while public hospitals and schools remain underfunded.
A popular chant among the protesters sums up their frustration: “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that healthcare facilities in cities like Oujda were overcrowded, dirty, and plagued by corruption, with patients allegedly forced to bribe staff to see doctors.
The protests have spread to Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, and Marrakesh, where demonstrators burned a police station.
Interior ministry spokesman Rachid El Khalfi said 409 people have been detained, with more than 260 police officers and 20 protesters injured. At least 40 police vehicles and 20 private cars have been torched.
Despite the violence, GenZ 212 organisers insist the movement remains peaceful and leaderless, driven mainly through social media.
“We are not behind the violence,” they stressed.
The protests come against the backdrop of rising unemployment, with official data showing youth joblessness at 35.8% and 19% even among university graduates.
Morocco’s overall unemployment rate stands at 12.8%.
The unrest mirrors youth-driven uprisings in Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Madagascar earlier this year.
In Nepal, mass protests forced the prime minister to resign, while Madagascar’s president dissolved his government this week to calm anger.
Morocco’s ruling coalition has signaled it is open to dialogue, promising to listen to young people “within institutions and public spaces to find realistic solutions.”
But with two protesters dead and anger spreading across the country, the government faces mounting pressure to act beyond promises.
The post Two Killed as Deadly Gen Z Protest Rocks Morocco first appeared on Diaspora Digital Media DDM.
