Five dead after bank set alight

FIVE burned bodies were found in a bank set ablaze in a north Moroccan town in unrest that erupted after weekend demonstrations for change, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui said yesterday.

The minister also announced that 128 people, including 115 members of the security forces, were wounded in violence in several towns following largely peaceful demonstrations Sunday to demand political reform.

“The burned bodies of five people were recovered inside one of the bank branches set alight by rioters in the city of Al Hoceima,” he told reporters.

Violence broke out in the northern town, and other areas, after thousands of people staged rallies demanding political reform and limits on the powers of King Mohammed VI.

Witnesses said police used tear gas against protesters in Al Hoceima Sunday after they set fire to five cars and threw stones at a police station following the demonstration.

In the demonstration in the capital Rabat on Sunday, between 3,000 and 4,000 people took to the streets shouting: “The people want change.”

They denounced corruption and called for a democratic constitution to be adopted.