11 charged with fishmonger’s murder in Morocco

Eleven people have been charged following the death of a fishmonger who was crushed in a rubbish truck while he was stopping police from destroying his produce.

The 11 include two Interior Ministry officials, the general prosecutor said yesterday.

Mouhcine Fikri was killed in the northern city of Al-Hoceima last week where thousands have taken to the streets in some of the largest protests not seen since the demonstrations during the 2011 Arab Spring.

Protesters chanted angrily “Mouhcine was murdered, Makhzen is to blame” for Fikri’s death, a term referring to the royal establishment.

As a result of the mass anger, King Mohammad VI, who is currently on an official tour of Africa, sent the interior minister to visit the victim’s family to pass on his condolences.

Fikri is believed to have bought fish during a time where fishing is banned from 1 October to 30 November every year.

A veterinary doctor, who is being charged with involuntary manslaughter in this case, declared the fish unfit for consumption, adding that it and should be destroyed.

Fikri then jumped into the rubbish truck police used to destroy the confiscated items and was crushed on police orders, activists have said.