Treatment of the participants in the so-called million-man march is a test of the tolerance of an absolute monarch trying to discard this pariah status and gain international acceptability.

Organisers from the Al-Hirak al-Shaabi movement have focussed their demonstration on the main port in the Rif region.

That’s where protests were sparked last year by a fishmonger being crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish confiscated by authorities.

Rif residents have long complained of neglect and marginalisation.

Al-Hirak has won strong support among the region’s diaspora and many former Rif residents living abroad have returned to the city to join the march.

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