{"id":38007,"date":"2019-03-29T22:23:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T22:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38007"},"modified":"2019-03-29T22:23:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T22:23:30","slug":"israeli-troops-wound-palestinians-as-anniversary-rally-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38007","title":{"rendered":"Israeli troops wound Palestinians as anniversary rally approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nCASABLANCA: Migrants at a squalid camp in the Moroccan city of Casablanca have few hopes for the future, after their dreams of a new life in Europe were squashed.<\/p>\n

\nIllegal but tolerated, the Oulad Ziane camp is the last of its kind in the country following the dismantling of similar ones in southern Agadir in March as well as one in the central city of Fes.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is no life,\u201d lamented Marcelin, a Cameroonian who has been in Morocco for five years and is now stranded in the camp after several failed attempts to leave for European shores.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe don\u2019t expect anything from anyone, but we hope at least for a little security and hygiene for children,\u201d said the man in his 30s.<\/p>\n

\nHe was speaking ahead of a visit to Morocco this weekend by Pope Francis who will make immigration one of the themes of his landmark trip.<\/p>\n

\nIn a message sent Thursday, the pope said he would meet with \u201cmigrants … who represent an appeal to build together a more just and fraternal world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHome to migrants from across sub-Saharan Africa, the Oulad Ziane camp is a scene of misery and despair.<\/p>\n

\nThe number of migrants at the camp varies, but can exceed 2,000, said Lassine Camara, who calls himself the \u201cpresident\u201d of the Malian community and a spokesman for Cameroonians, Guineans, Ivorians, Nigerians, Senegalese and others there.<\/p>\n

\nThey take cover under makeshift shelters of wooden pillars topped with blankets or sheets of plastic.<\/p>\n

\nA water hose has been installed by non-governmental organizations to provide water to drink and for washing, while the groups also ensure rubbish is cleared away, according to a volunteer who did not wish to be named.<\/p>\n

\nBus stations have become easy gathering points for migrants who can at least use the toilets, said Alpha Camara, a Guinean who leads a Rabat-based association and who also represents those from sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere are very few structures for migrants: We are scrambling to give them a semblance of dignity,\u201d said an activist in Casablanca.<\/p>\n

\nFive migrants died in 2018 at camps in the northeastern region of Nador due to \u201cdisease and poor hygiene,\u201d according to the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH).<\/p>\n

\nThe authorities are working to clear illegal camps without developing reception facilities, according to several sources.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Moroccan policy is to put the migrants on buses and deport them from the north,\u201d the Casablanca volunteer said, adding some migrants have endured this five or six times.<\/p>\n

\nThe Interior Ministry\u2019s immigration director, Khalid Zerouali, however denies they are being deported, a term used by human rights defenders who denounce \u201cmassive arrests\u201d in recent months in the north.<\/p>\n

\nFaced with higher migration flows since the closure of the road via Libya, the authorities last year stopped 89,000 attempts at \u201cirregular immigration,\u201d including 29,000 at sea, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

\nNon-Moroccans arrested at illegal camps are sent home, including 5,500 who returned voluntarily in 2018, or moved to other cities, according to Zerouali.<\/p>\n

\nSince the start of the year, about 9,000 sub-Saharan migrants have been \u201cremoved\u201d from along the Mediterranean coast under a law that bars those without residency from certain areas in order to stop trafficking, he said.<\/p>\n

\nAhead of his visit, the pope said he was coming \u201cas a pilgrim of peace and of fraternity, in a world which has great need of both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIf the pope comes to speak about migration, then I hope the world can see the misery in which we live,\u201d sighed one Senegalese man at the camp who hid his face for fear of being arrested and deported.<\/p>\n

\nNear him, a man cooked up a pot of rice to be sold in portions as youths played table football beside a pile of garbage.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe sleep where we urinate,\u201d said one angry young Burkinabe man.<\/p>\n

\nThe camp suffers from a \u201clack of hygiene, violence and makeshift structures,\u201d said a representative of a local association.<\/p>\n

\nLast year it also witnessed four fires as well as clashes which erupted between migrants and residents, according to the volunteer from Casablanca.<\/p>\n

\nDespite this, the Cameroonian Marcelin still thinks integration is possible for the migrants and that it is easier for Muslims.<\/p>\n

\nMorocco says it has a \u201chumanist\u201d migrant policy and has conducted two campaigns since 2014 giving residency to 50,000 illegal aliens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CASABLANCA: Migrants at a squalid camp in the Moroccan city of Casablanca have few hopes for the future, after their dreams of a new life in Europe were squashed. Illegal but tolerated, the Oulad Ziane camp is the last of its kind in the country following the dismantling of similar ones in southern Agadir in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}