Marrakech tourist guides protest over Scandinavians killed in Morocco

Marrakech tourist guides on Saturday gathered in front of the Danish Embassy in the city to denounce the murder of two young Scandinavian hikers in southern Morocco, whose bodies are being repatriated.

Moroccan police on Friday announced that they had made nine new arrests in connection with the “terrorist” murder of two young Scandinavian hikers in southern Morocco, whose bodies are being repatriated.

“All the citizens of the world, not only of the Kingdom of Morocco, but of the whole world who militate, who work day and night for peace, friendship and fraternity to reign on this planet, in the name of the guides of the Marrakech region and the Kingdom of Morocco as a whole, we condemn this act which can only be described as an act of barbarity, and ignorance,” said Hassan Mahroug, Bureau Member of the Regional Association of Guides.

The defendants were arrested for their “alleged links with the perpetrators of the terrorist act” that killed Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, a 24-year-old Danish student, and Maren Ueland, a 28-year-old Norwegian woman.

Danish intelligence services said on Friday in a statement “share the assessment” of the Moroccan authorities on the “terrorist” nature of the murder.

Nine more arrested in Morocco over murder of Scandinavian tourists https://t.co/PIesB4zDld pic.twitter.com/O8tOOyl87g

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) December 21, 2018

In total, thirteen people have been arrested since Monday in Morocco for their alleged links to the deaths of the two tourists. The four direct suspects of this “terrorist act”, according to police, were arrested between Monday and Thursday in Marrakech, the kingdom’s tourist capital.