Morocco police use water cannons to disperse doctors' protest

Police in Morocco have reportedly used water cannons to disperse a protest by health professionals in Rabat, Anadolu reported.

Health professionals including doctors and nurses marched towards parliament yesterday to protest the government’s failure to fulfil a previously signed agreement with the Ministry of Health.

The protest was abruptly halted by security forces who used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators, reportedly resulting in numerous arrests.

Earlier on Monday, eight unions announced the implementation of a comprehensive national strike for three days, starting Tuesday.

A joint statement by the unions said the strike also includes organising another three-day nationwide strike next week.

“We will also boycott work in mobile units, medical convoys, and the programme of surgical operations, except for urgent ones,” the statement said.

READ: 600 uni staff demand end to ties with Israel university: Morocco

The statement “strongly denounced the government’s disregard for the health sector’s demands and its obstruction of the process of implementing the agreements concluded with the unions.”

They also expressed their dismay at the government’s scheduling of three decrees related to the health sector without their involvement.

The government is due to discuss today’s decrees pertaining to the implementation of laws regarding the establishment of territorial health groups, the Moroccan Agency for Medicines, and the Moroccan Agency for Blood and its Derivatives.

Last week, government spokesman Mustafa Batias announced an increase in the wages of 1,127,000 government employees with a budget of $4.5 billion starting this July.

The government had previously announced an increase in the monthly wages of public sector employees last April, by 1,000 dirhams ($100), in addition to raising the minimum wage for the private sector by ten per cent.