14 people arrested for torching police station in Morocco

Fourteen people have been arrested following an attack on a police residence over the weekend by demonstrators in Al Hoceima in northern Morocco, according to several media reports.

“A group of individuals, returning Sunday evening from a demonstration in Ait Youssef Ou Ali, stoned a residence reserved for the elements of the national security in Imzouren and set fire to its surroundings,” a Moroccan official told the MAP agency yesterday.

The protesters also burned four cars and a police bus as well as a private car and caused material damage in the residence, the source explained.

“The defendants were placed in custody and referred to the public prosecutor’s office,” the prosecutor of Al Hoceima said in a statement.

It is not known why people were demonstrating, but the Al Hoceima region, located in the Moroccan Rif region, has been the scene of protests over the years, most notably last year when a fishmonger was crushed to death in a dumpster when authorities confiscated his livestock.