Order has been restored in Marrakech. For several weeks in August, the city was the scene of acts of delinquency widely documented on social networks: cars drifting in the streets, car chases endangering the lives of local residents… The saddest – and best-known – episode in this criminal series is undoubtedly the video showing a mad driver driving a Swiss-registered car on a night-time « joyride », which left several people injured.

URGENT 🚨

Last night in Marrakech, an individual in a vehicle deliberately crashed into several pedestrians on the road. 😱🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/Gc8bSQG5D0

– TFT MOROCCO (@TFT_Morocco) August 16, 2024

These crimes quickly made the rounds on the Web, prompting reactions not only from citizens, but also from the police, who carried out a veritable clean-up operation in the ochre city. In the space of ten days, police forces arrested some 2,956 people for a variety of offenses, ranging from breaches of public decency to breaking of traffic laws and even more serious acts of delinquency. On the evening of September 2nd to September 3rd alone, 425 people were arrested by the authorities, including 122 individuals for whom national arrest warrants had been issued.

The widespread mobilization of various police units, including criminal investigation brigades, traffic police units, intervention teams and law enforcement groups, also testifies to the massive scope of the operation.

Not a first

The massive operation carried out by the authorities in Marrakech is not a first on a national scale.  » Operations on the same scale have already been carried out this year in Fez, Salé, Tangier and Casablanca », says a source at the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN, Direction générale de la sûreté nationale).

These operations are based not only on citizens’ reports, but also on « feedback on the increase in the number of people wanted for a particular type of crime. Investigations are then carried out to find them and determine their whereabouts« , explains our contact. In the case of Marrakech, it was an increase in reports of « illegal drifting » and « dangerous driving » that tipped off the authorities.

These practices, contrary to what some publications on social networks suggest, are not only the work of Moroccans living abroad who have come to spend the summer in the Kingdom, but also of locals. « Moroccans living abroad  are involved, as are people living on the Casablanca-Rabat axis who have come to spend the summer in Marrakech », says our source.

This is how the police operation to « clean up » the Ochre city of these practices was launched, under the joint command of the Public Security Directorate (in charge of road traffic in particular) and the Prefect of Police for Marrakech. Result: since the start of the operation, 415 vehicles have been impounded for dangerous driving, involving risky behaviors such as motorcycle wheelies or driving at high speed in pedestrian or tourist zones.

Expanded net

But the effects of the Marrakech police operation don’t stop there. As part of a « strict application of the law« , says our source, the authorities have also decided to crack down on traffic offenses that could be described as less serious for public order. For example, 1,091 traffic offenses were recorded on the night of September 2nd to September 3rd, 570 of them were for not wearing a motorcycle helmet. Motorcyclists’ failure to observe safety rules led to repeated impoundments of non-compliant or dangerous vehicles. In the first three days of the campaign alone, 326 motorcycles and tricycles were impounded.

The fight against clandestine transport is also concerned, a phenomenon that has grown with the increasing demand for unregulated transport services. The authorities have opened criminal investigations against eight individuals suspected of engaging in this type of transport.

The security plan launched by the authorities has received significant support from local associations and human rights activists, as well as from many Moroccans on social networks. But perhaps the most surprising endorsement came from Omar Arbib, president of the local branch of the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH, Association marocaine des droits humains) in Marrakech, who, in a statement to Hespress, stressed the importance of this campaign in restoring public confidence.

According to Arbib, « the security campaign launched by the authorities is very commendable, as it reinforces the feeling of security in the city and reduces certain inappropriate behaviors which represented a real source of nuisance ». He adds that « this campaign must become a basic measure to condemn these behaviors almost definitively in the hope of eradicating them ».

Statistically, the impact of this police operation is already being felt. Since the beginning of the operation, the number of road accidents recorded in Marrakech is, according to our information, almost zero, as is the number of assaults on the streets. « There are no longer any drifting cars in Marrakech« , assures our police source.

Written by ElMehdi El Azhary, edited in English by S.E.