News Center - The “Generation Z212” movement in Morocco began on social media, leading to peaceful protests demanding reforms in education and healthcare, as well as fighting corruption. The demonstrations have spread across several Moroccan cities, presenting realistic social demands and calling on authorities to respect freedom of expression and the right to protest.

Moroccan courts have sentenced 2,480 people to prison for their participation in the “Generation Z212” protests, which started on September 27, calling for reform of the education and healthcare systems and for combating rampant corruption in the country.

On October 27 alone, Moroccan courts issued prison sentences against 411 citizens, including 76 minors, according to data from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Some of these sentences were suspended.

During its latest demonstrations on Saturday, the movement demanded the release of all detainees arrested during the protests. Several Moroccan cities — including Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Marrakesh, Fez, Oujda, Agadir, Tetouan, Meknes, Safi, El Jadida, and Beni Mellal — witnessed large-scale protests focused on freeing the detainees, holding officials accountable, improving education and healthcare services, and fighting corruption.

In its first official response to government actions, the “Generation Z212” movement stated: “As part of our continued peaceful movement for the popular demands embraced by the Moroccan people — which has yielded some gains, such as accelerating the construction and opening of certain health and educational institutions, and adopting some measures to promote political integrity — we consider these gains insufficient, despite their importance, as long as there is no explicit commitment and clear mechanisms to combat corruption, conflicts of interest, and to link responsibility with accountability. Only through these measures can true change be achieved in our country.”

The movement added that “all of this will have no meaning if all detainees are not released and the suffering of their families is not brought to an end.”