March 13, 2000
Moroccans and Women: Two Rallies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABAT, Morocco, March 12 -- Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets
of two Moroccan cities today in rival demonstrations over a government plan that would grant more rights to women.
In the capital, Rabat, between 200,000 and
300,000 people representing women's groups,
human rights movements and political parties
marched in support of the plan, some chanting,
"No to reactionaries." At least six government
ministers took part in the march, which ended
with a concert.
In Casablanca, officials said that at least
200,000 people -- twice that, according to observers -- demonstrated against the plan,
which would offer women greater educational
opportunities and help those going through divorce.
"We defend Islam with our bodies and souls,"
the crowds chanted as they marched -- men
and women in separate columns -- through
downtown Casablanca under the eyes of the
police and soldiers. "Men and women are equal
before God," they chanted.
The Casablanca march was supported by
Abdessalam Yassine, the founder of the banned
Justice and Charity Movement, who has been
under house arrest outside Rabat for a decade.
His movement has grown increasingly vocal
since last July when King Mohammed VI took
the throne following the death of his father,
King Hassan II.
The new monarch has moved quickly to bring
a variety of social and human rights reforms to
his kingdom.
The plan that provoked the demonstration
today has sharply divided Moroccans in the
year since it was announced.
Among other things, it would fully replace the
practice of repudiation -- or automatic divorce
by a husband -- with court divorces, and provide for equal division of money and property.
It would also support a literacy program for
rural Moroccan women, 60 percent of whom are
illiterate.
