Protest leaders in Morocco’s Jerada arrested

RABAT: Moroccan authorities have arrested two leaders of protests that began last December in the northeastern Moroccan town of Jerada, relatives said on Sunday.

Amine Mkallech and Mustapha Dainane were arrested on Saturday and were still being held on Sunday, they said.Dainane was arrested following a traffic accident at 1:00 am on Thursday, according to a statement from the general prosecutor’s office in the nearby town of Oujda.

His arrest “has no connection with the events in the city of Jerada”, an impoverished former coal mining town, it said. Mkallech was also arrested in connection with that traffic accident, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Said Zeroual, told AFP. Dainane gained popularity with spirited speeches during demonstrations in Jerada. His usually active Facebook page, which displays a photo of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin as its profile image, was no longer available on Sunday morning.