“These protests in Morocco bring together young people demanding urgent improvements
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Morocco in recent days to demand a series of reforms in the education and healthcare sectors from the government. Protests led by Generation Z have spread to various parts of the country and have led to clashes with security forces in recent hours, resulting in dozens of demonstrators being arrested.
The demonstrations, organized by the groups GenZ 212 and Morocco Youth Voice, have mobilized thousands of people in more than a dozen cities to protest against corruption and criticize the government's spending on sporting events—including the 2030 World Cup—despite the fragile state of education and healthcare services and the high unemployment rate in the African country.
Protests in Morocco: Criticism of sports spending and calls for dialogue
The protests, the most widely followed in Morocco since those that shook the Rif region between 2016 and 2017, began over the weekend following calls issued by these organizations, which have called for "peaceful and civilized" demonstrations and have been organized through platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Discord.
Some participants chanted slogans such as "The stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?", referring to Rabat's outlay on the construction of three new stadiums and the renovation or expansion of five others ahead of the 2030 World Cup and this year's Africa Cup of Nations. These projects have sparked popular discontent over the lack of public services, which they consider to have been neglected by the authorities.
Criticism has been mounting in recent years, mainly stemming from sporadic protests that are not geographically widespread across the country. However, these complaints have led to growing discontent following the deaths of eight women during childbirth in a public hospital in Agadir, an example of the lack of resources and services suffered by the Moroccan population.
In fact, the first protests, called for Saturday and Sunday, centered in the capital, Rabat, and cities such as Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, Meknes, and Agadir. The protests were aimed specifically at demanding improvements in these public services and the fight against unemployment, in a country where 8.2 million people—out of a population of 36.8 million—are between 15 and 29 years old, according to the 2024 census.
Protests in Morocco: Youth unemployment figures and living costs
Complaints center around patient overcrowding and a lack of equipment and staff in health centers, as well as the high cost of private healthcare, the problems faced by public schools, and the lack of preparation for students to later enter the labor market. This is also affected by an unemployment rate of 36.7 percent among young people up to 24 years old, a figure that rises to 48.4 percent in urban areas.
Unemployment is precisely one of the main sources of discontent among the population, who also denounce the poor conditions of those who do find work, amid complaints that 73.2 percent of them do not have a regular contract, according to data collected by the Moroccan newspaper Le Matin, which indicates that the unemployment rate among people with a higher education degree is 25.7 percent.
Protesters are also demanding measures to address the rising cost of living, including subsidies for basic goods, improved wages and pensions, combating monopolies in various economic sectors, prioritizing investment in national companies, facilitating access to affordable housing, improving public transportation and life in rural areas, and achieving widespread improvements in human rights and social justice.
Protests in Morocco : Demands for health, education, and youth employment
The protests, inspired in part by the recent Gen Z protests in Nepal—which resulted in the fall of the government, the calling of early elections, and numerous promises of reform—erupted in clashes across the country on Tuesday, with protesters throwing stones at security forces as they attempted to disperse the protests.
Several police vehicles and a bank were set on fire in Ait Amira, while a bank building was also burned in Inzegane, where some protesters clashed with police, who deployed water cannons to suppress the protests. In addition, there have been attempted looting and other disturbances, with dozens of arrests in Rabat and other towns.
The protests have also received support from various public figures, including rappers Raid and Khtek, as well as singer Manal and actress Saadia Ladib, who have been joined by director Naima Zitan and actor Hassan Hamuche, and various soccer players, including Azedine Unahi, who plays for the national team. Fans of several teams also chanted slogans during weekend matches, threatening to boycott upcoming matches.
In several cities, the protests in Morocco led to clashes and occasional arrests.
Faced with this situation, the Moroccan government leadership held a meeting on Tuesday and expressed its "understanding" of the demands and demonstrated its "willingness" to address them "constructively and responsibly, through dialogue and debate within institutions and public spaces," as reported by the Moroccan state news agency, MAP.
Thus, he issued a statement after a meeting between members of the governing majority in which he applauded the "balanced" response of the security forces and reaffirmed his intention to fulfill the development program presented in July 2025 by Mohammed VI, "especially with regard to the overall improvement of territorial spaces and the reduction of social and spatial disparities."
Aware of the problems and backlogs the healthcare system has been experiencing for decades, the majority emphasizes that the ambition for reform expressed by young people coincides with the priorities the government is working ," he maintained, before defending that he has launched a "broad reform project" in the healthcare sector whose results "cannot be measured immediately," trying to avoid criticism of his management.
Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Ajanuch, billionaire mayor of Agadir, defended in September the authorities' "great achievements" in the health sector, despite the fact that World Health Organization (WHO) data for 2023 shows the country has 7.4 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants – an improvement of just 1.09 since 2013, with even lower figures in rural areas – well below the recommended 25 per 10,000 people.
Growing pressure from protesters has prompted Health Minister Amine Tahrawi to appear before a parliamentary committee this Wednesday to address the state of the African country's healthcare system, after recently ordering the dismissal of the director of Health and Social Protection in Souss-Massa and the director of the aforementioned Agadir hospital.
For its part, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) has criticized the authorities' actions, holding them "fully responsible for the deterioration of social conditions," and has called on the government to release those detained and "act wisely" in response to popular demands. The measures announced so far have failed to appease the protesters, who have vowed to continue their demonstrations to achieve tangible changes in the African country.
