Hundreds of Moroccans on Monday staged a demonstration outside the parliament building in Rabat to protest the killing of two of their nationals who were shot dead by Algerian coastguards during a jet skiing holiday.
The protesters, who denounced what they called “the crime committed by the Algerian state” following the killing of the two holidaymakers, called on the Moroccan government “to take a very firm stance in the face of these crimes.”
The Moroccans, who were skiing in their country’s territorial waters, were shot dead by the Algerian coastguards on Friday after they were alleged to have strayed across the maritime border between the two countries.
The incident has sparked further diplomatic row between the two North African countries which have had frosty relations for several years.
A member of the Moroccan League for Citizenship and Human Rights, Hicham Mellioui, who was one of the leaders of the protesters, told journalists that the country’s government must do everything possible to get justice for the killed men.
“The government, whether through declarations, through possible actions before international bodies, should challenge them (Algeria), at least in the media, with official statements, with diplomatic acts,” Mellioui said.
Another leader of the rally, Thami Belmaalam said Moroccan and international associations would be filing applications at international level.
“A letter will be sent to the UN Secretary-General for the same reason”, he said.
Algerian authorities in a statement on Sunday, justified the shooting of the Moroccan citizens, saying its security forces had opened fire after the group of jet skiers ignored warning shots and refused to comply with orders to stop.
“During a security patrol inside our territorial waters, a coastguard unit intercepted three jet skis that clandestinely entered our territorial waters,” a defence ministry press release said.
The victims, who were part of a group of skiers on holiday, were identified as Bilal Kissi, a 29-year-old French-Moroccan tourist and his Moroccan cousin Abdelali Mechouar, 40, while a third tourist, Smail Snabe, was wounded and detained in Algeria, according to media reports in Morocco.
Kissi’s brother, Mohamed, who had also been in the group, told the media they got lost and ran out of fuel after leaving the Moroccan resort of Saidia, near the border with Algeria, before the shooting incident.
He said he managed to leave the area after the incident and was picked up by the Moroccan navy while his brother’s body was recovered on Saidia beach on the Moroccan side of the border.