RABAT - Morocco's king dismissed several ministers and top officials on Tuesday for failing to improve the economic situation in a region shaken by protests, the state news agency MAP said.
Protests erupted in the Rif region around the northern city of Al-Hoceima last October, triggered by the death of a fishmonger whose produce was confiscated by police.
The man's crushing to death in a garbage truck during a confrontation with police became a symbol of corruption and official abuse.
There protests, also fuelled by economic underdevelopment, continued this year.
Morocco's King Mohammed dismissed the ministers of education, planning and housing and health, as well as other officials, after an economic agency found "imbalances" in implementing a development plan, MAP reported.
Political protests are rare in Morocco, where the palace remains the ultimate power.
The protests - the largest in Morocco since the days of the 2011 "Arab Spring" - were directed at the government and the king's entourage rather than the monarch himself.
In July the king pardoned dozens of people arrested in the protests and blamed the failure of local officials to quickly implement development projects for stoking public anger.
(Reporting by Zakia Abdennebi and Ali Abdelaty; additional reporting by Aidan Lewis; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))
Protests erupted in the Rif region around the northern city of Al-Hoceima last October, triggered by the death of a fishmonger whose produce was confiscated by police.
The man's crushing to death in a garbage truck during a confrontation with police became a symbol of corruption and official abuse.
There protests, also fuelled by economic underdevelopment, continued this year.
Morocco's King Mohammed dismissed the ministers of education, planning and housing and health, as well as other officials, after an economic agency found "imbalances" in implementing a development plan, MAP reported.
Political protests are rare in Morocco, where the palace remains the ultimate power.
The protests - the largest in Morocco since the days of the 2011 "Arab Spring" - were directed at the government and the king's entourage rather than the monarch himself.
In July the king pardoned dozens of people arrested in the protests and blamed the failure of local officials to quickly implement development projects for stoking public anger.
(Reporting by Zakia Abdennebi and Ali Abdelaty; additional reporting by Aidan Lewis; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))
