Moroccan gendarmerie fires warning shots during violent Kénitra farm protest

Members of a patrol from the Royal Gendarmerie's territorial unit in Ben Mansour, in Morocco's Kénitra province, fired warning shots on Monday evening while responding to an incident involving a group of highly agitated individuals, authorities said.

The incident occurred after nearly 200 people from the douar of Riyah Lqabliya obstructed ongoing work at two farms and set fire to an earthmoving machine. According to the authorities, security forces came under a barrage of stones and were confronted with several fires, prompting gendarmes to use their service weapons to fire warning shots.

Authorities said several protesters were accidentally injured by bullet fragments and were taken to hospital, where they remain in stable condition. Two gendarmes were also injured, one of them seriously, and received the necessary medical treatment.

A Civil Protection vehicle was damaged during the unrest before security forces dispersed the crowd. A judicial investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.