Young Belgian volunteers working in shorts on a construction site in southern Morocco provoked virulent reactions: a teacher was arrested after calling to behead them, while a member denounced their "light" outfit.
The 26-year-old schoolteacher was arrested on Monday for "posting a hate message on Facebook" against the group of mostly girls working outdoors in a village near Taroudant, a Moroccan security statement said on Tuesday ( DGNS).
"Secular terrorism" according to a deputy
Published after the broadcast of a video report showing these volunteers, breaking a path in shorts under a blazing sun, his message called for their beheading, an echo of the assassination of two Scandinavian tourists perpetrated in 2018 by Moroccans radicalized in the name of the Islamic State group, according to local media.
This man who lived in the north of the country will be prosecuted for "incitement to terrorist acts", according to the DGSN. "Since when do Europeans do work in bathing clothes?" Ali El Asri, a member of the Islamist party (PJD, head of the government coalition) indignantly said on his Facebook page, provoking indignant reactions that he described as "secular terrorism".
The volunteers intervened in liaison with a local association, as explained by participants in this report. "People are very kind and very friendly, I love Morocco!" Said Luna, one of the young people interviewed in this video.