The funerals of the two brothers who died in Jerada have nearly resulted in clashes between protesters and the police. On Monday, the president of the Oriental region visited the city, announcing the arrival of a ministerial delegation. Jerada buried, this afternoon, the two brothers who died in a mine. «The demonstrators refused to allow representatives of the local authorities and the security forces to organize the funeral, blocking the ambulances carrying the two bodies from the morgue to the city's cemetery,» Said Al Manjami, an activist present on site told Yabiladi. The confrontation was imminent before the security forces retired, leaving the inhabitants to bury the two brothers. Once the burial was completed, a march took place heading to the city's prefecture. The rally was not interrupted by the police. This calm contrasts with the use of force, in the night from Sunday to Monday. «Police officers dispersed the sit-in observed by young people in front of the cemetery with the intention of preventing the burial of the two victims and detained them for a few hours», the same source added. The Oriental president in action Fearing the eruption of another Hirak in the mining town, the elected officials were mobilized to check the facts behind the events happening in Jerada. This morning, the president of the region, Abdenbi Bioui, arrived in the city to play the role of a mediator and try to calm tensions. «In a discussion with a group of demonstrators, the elected politician from the PAM party, promised to solve the problems of the mining town. He also announced the arrival of a ministerial delegation. Bioui asked protesters to set up a committee of representatives», says Said Al Manjami. The president of the region has been in office since October 2015. «Young people from the 'cinderella' (a clandestine mine) categorically refuse to include other associative and union traders in the dialogue committee set to meet with ministers and the local authorities, a version to which other forces do not adhere to Jerada, arguing that the matter is more important than merely the clandestine extraction of coal and concerns the development of the whole city», indicates our source. Unlike the Rif's Hirak, where Nasser Zefzafi quickly emerged as the leading activist of the movement, in Jerada no figure has aroused so far to take control of the protests.
