MOROCCO: Thousands protest in Rabat calling on government to curb the country's accelerating rate of inflation

Record ID: 212694

  • Title: MOROCCO: Thousands protest in Rabat calling on government to curb the country's accelerating rate of inflation
  • Date: 25th December 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) ALI LOUTFI, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC LABOUR ORGANISATION, SAYING: "This protest comes after a series of protests across the country. It was decided upon through the coordination of different political parties, unions and civil society groups to express their condemnation of government policy with regards to the living standards of Moroccans; 50 percent of whom live below the poverty line."
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Morocco
  • Country: Morocco
  • Topics: Finance
  • Reuters ID: LVA94GU601R24LCC8A6OP038JYGQ
  • Story Text: Thousands of Moroccans took to the streets of the capital Rabat on Sunday (December 24) for a demonstration organised by left-wing and consumer-advocacy groups to complain about rising living costs.
    The march was the latest sign of growing anger over rising prices of transport, basic foodstuffs, water and electricity in the country of 30 million, where an estimated 14 percent of people live in poverty.
    The demonstrators chanted slogans such as "Don't touch my bread" and "No to privatisation" and waved banners reading: "Don't touch citizens' buying power".
    "This protest comes after a series of protests across the country. It was decided upon through the coordination of different political parties, unions and civil society groups to express their condemnation of government policy with regards to the living standards of Moroccans; 50 percent of whom live below the poverty line," said Ali Loutfi, secretary-general of the Democratic Labour Organisation.
    "We are participating in this demonstration because we are being oppressed by inflation, by the rise in water and electricity prices. Our purchasing power has dropped dramatically and we can't take it anymore. We are being deprived of many things. This privatisation has made us extremely poor and has deprived of us the dignity of living," an elderly protester said.
    The organisers -- a group formed this year called the Alliance Against Price Increases -- said 12,000 people turned out for the demonstration, but police said the number was no higher than 6,000.
    Sporadic protests have erupted in recent months in Morocco's largest cities over increases in household bills.
    Protests against utilities company Lyonnaise des Eaux de Casablanca (Lydec) won a concession from the firm to trim prices for low-income consumers.
    Lydec is controlled by French utility company Suez and since 1997 has managed the water and electricity supplies for Casablanca, Morocco's business hub and its most populous city with over three million inhabitants.
    "The rise in prices of certain basic substances is caused by the rise in the cost of these substances, which led the producers to raise the value of their market price. It has also been aggravated by the government's decision to implement what is known as "real prices" and decrease the role of subsidies," economic analyst Idriss Isawi told Reuters Television.
    The government, which subsidises fuel and many essential foodstuffs to make them more affordable for the population, has said it may reverse some price increases.
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