CASABLANCA, Morocco — The inhabitants of Imider — a group of seven villages in southeastern Morocco — marched on Aug. 1 to Mount Alebban, where they have been holding a sit-in for six years to reaffirm the demands of their long and ongoing protest movement.

In August 2011, Imider residents climbed to the top of the 1,400-meter (4,600-foot) hill to claim the right to access the water resources of their region and live in a healthy environment. A few miles away lies the biggest silver mine in Africa, which the residents say ejects harmful chemicals, pollutes their air, water and soil, and uses the already scarce water resources of the region.

The mine is exploited by the Imiter Metallurgic Company (SMI) — a subsidiary of the mining group Managem, part of the National Investment Company, a holding firm mainly controlled by the royal family. Imider activists say they don't benefit from the mine's exploitation and lack the most basic infrastructures such as health and education facilities. They demand that Managem contribute to the development of the region and provide jobs to the inhabitants.

"I am protesting on this symbolic day to reaffirm our demands to Managem, the Moroccan state and the public opinion, and to demonstrate that our sit-in is still going on," Moha Tawja, a business management student and a founding member of the protest movement, told Al-Monitor.