A demonstration in support of Hirak, a protest movement that has been ongoing for eight months in the Rif region, in northern Morocco, was violently repressed July 9 in Morocco’s capital, Rabat.

Although they were prevented by police forces from gathering in front of the parliament, demonstrators chanted slogans and called for the release of dozens of activists arrested in the Rif region, including Sylia Ziani, a 23-year-old singer currently detained at the Oukacha prison in Casablanca. In recent weeks, several protests expressing solidarity with the Hirak movement have been brutally dispersed throughout the country.

But in spite of an unprecedented crackdown, protesters continue to take to the streets. On July 16, hundreds of people expressed support for Hirak in Rabat. In al-Hoceima, where the Hirak movement initiated, a national march, which was announced before the arrest of the movement's leaders in May, is expected to take place July 20.

On July 17, local authorities in al-Hoceima declared they were forbidding the march. Activists, however, said they were planning to march July 20. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), leftist political parties such as the Federation of the Democratic Left, the Marxist-Leninist party Democratic Way and the tolerated yet unofficial Islamist organization Justice and Charity condemned the ban. In addition, the AMDH has announced a sit-in in Rabat in front of the parliament the same day.