Sit-in in Morocco’s south still going strong as it enters its seventh year

After six years of an uninterrupted sit-in, the inhabitants of Imider in southeast Morocco march to reaffirm their demands.
An activist carrying a Berber flag walks on a hilltop above a silver mine, where dozens of poor and unemployed young villagers have been holding a permanent sit-in since 2011, near the town of Imider, southeastern Morocco, August 31, 2015. They have cut off the flow of water from a well that supplies one of the biggest silver mines in Africa. Protesters want to make the company hire more locals and reconsider its water and environmental policies. Picture taken August 31, 2015. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal - RTX1
An activist carrying a Berber flag walks on a hilltop above a silver mine, where dozens of poor and unemployed young villagers have been holding a permanent sit-in since 2011, near the town of Imider, southeastern Morocco, Aug. 31, 2015. - REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
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Ilhem Rachidi

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.

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