Moroccan arrested for wanting to talk to King

A Moroccan was placed in police custody in France after he attempted to enter the Moroccan King’s royal convoy in Paris, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

The man tried “to introduce himself to the procession of the King” after “Mohammed VI’s car was stationary on a road in Mesnil-Amelot near Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Seine-et-Marne”.

He was then arrested by Moroccan and French security services that were escorting the King before being taken into custody at the Villeparisis Police Station where he will be presented before the prosecution.

This is not the first time the man has reportedly tried to make contact with the Moroccan King. Last week he attempted to enter the King’s residence in Betz, north-east of Paris, to “talk to him”.

Last March, a similar case took place in Morocco when a man ran after the royal procession during the visit of King Abdullah II of Jordan in the capital Rabat. The man was then chased by security forces and intercepted by bodyguards.

The incidents mainly occur due to people wanting to speak to the King about personal issues or to request help.

The interior ministry warned last year that “security services accompanying the royal procession will receive no demand presented in this manner”.

The King has been in the Paris for several weeks where he has undergone ophthalmological surgery.

According to a statement co-signed by Professor Nordmann, head of the ophthalmological department, and Professor Abdelaziz Maaouni, the King’s personal physician, Mohammed VI had “a pterygium [tissue growth on the cornea of the eye] of the left eye” which he has now had treated.

Read: Morocco and France discuss defence cooperation