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Thousands of Moroccans march to protest al-Qaeda
Thousands marched through Morocco's biggest city on Sunday to protest al Qaeda's decision to kill two Moroccan hostages in Iraq.Holding banners and chanting "Muslims are brothers. A Muslim does not kill his brother" and "'Yes' to freedom, 'No' to terrorism and barbarity", the protesters marched through Casablanca, a city of 6 million and Morocco's financial capital. Al Qaeda has said it decided to kill the Moroccan embassy employees, Abderrahim Boualem and Abdelkrim al Mouhafidi because of Morocco's support for the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Top Moroccan officials, ministers, pro-government and opposition party leaders and trade unions and rights groups, led the protest to put pressures on al Qaeda to free the two men. Some members of Islamist parties which back Iraqi insurgents fighting U.S.-led forces in Iraq also joined the march. "All Moroccans are with Iraq, all Moroccans are innocent," the marchers chanted. Morocco's influential organisation of Islamic scholars, known as the High Council of the Ulema and the Councils of Ulema in the Moroccan Kingdom, dismissed al Qaeda's argument that its verdict to kill the two embassy employees was "God's judgment". "The two Moroccans would be considered martyrs if this iniquitous verdict were to be carried out as they were carrying out a duty assigned to them by their nation and legitimate state," the Moroccan Islamic body said on Saturday. Organisers and local government officials said more than 150,000 people took part in the peaceful march while reporters said the anti-Qaeda protesters numbered more than 10,000. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-06 |
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