Eighth straight day of Moroccan Gen Z protests for better services

Twenty-one-year-old Yasser Benayyad is one of thousands of Gen Z Moroccans who have been taking part in protests for the past eight days.

Like others of his generation, he wants the government to reform the health and education sectors and create of job opportunities for young people.

"We took to the streets to express our demands in peaceful demonstrations, in a neutral way and without violence,” he said.

“As for the acts of violence and vandalism witnessed since Tuesday and Wednesday have nothing to do with us. We are conscious and educated youth, whether with or without academic degrees."

State media is reporting that at least two people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters who were allegedly trying to storm a police station in Lqliaa.

The demonstrations have been coordinated by an online collective called Gen Z 212, with the number a reference to Morocco’s international dialling code.

It has more than 180,000 members on the gaming and streaming platform Discord, and insists on the non-violent nature of its protests.

The demonstrations have bucked the perception that young Moroccans are politically disengaged.

Benayyad obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology at the Faculty of Sciences in Salé in the summer of 2025.said he just wants to focus on his future.

“I want to build a family, to buy a house. Why not? The problem is that the government does not provide us with guidance regarding our educational future. For example, I have a degree in biology, but I don’t know where I will be able to work."

As Morocco spends an estimated $5 billion dollars on football infrastructure in preparation for co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup, demonstrators believe the government has its priorities wrong.

"We demand a comprehensive reform of education and health, and we want job opportunities to be created,” said Benayyad.

“This is why we protested, because we are Generation Z, we are in our twenties, we want a decent life, we want to build families.”

Their list of demands also includes affordable housing, better public transport, improved wages and pensions, and lower and subsidised prices for basic goods