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Moroccan protesters clashed with security forces in a poor mining town where residents have been demanding government help to tackle poverty, officials and activists said. The town of Jerada in the remote northeast has seen protests since two artisan miners were killed in an accident in December but demonstrations calling for state aid and alternative jobs had remained peaceful until now. On Wednesday, protesters set five police cars on fire and clashed with police, a local official said. An unspecified number of policemen were wounded and brought to a hospital in Oujda, the main city in the northeast, a statement said. Nine persons had been detained, officials said. An activist in Jerada said residents had staged a sit-in against a statement by interior ministry on Tuesday that had warned it was ready to act decisively unless the protests stopped. Security forces fired tear gas, according to a video posted on social media purportedly showing the clashes. Some 500 security had surrounded the protest which had led to the violence, the activist said by phone, asking not to be named. Weiterlesen »