Rock’s Moroccan community urges Morocco to reopen borders with Gib

The Moroccan Community Association in Gibraltar held a demonstration at the Piazza on Friday evening to send a “strong message” to the Kingdom of Morocco urging it to reopen its borders to those living in Gibraltar.

Over 250 people attended the peaceful demonstration held on Friday evening and were urged to share photographs and videos on their social media to try and “catch the attention” of the Moroccan Government.

Ali Douissi, President of the Moroccan Community Association, told the Chronicle it has been abound 18 months that travel between Gibraltar and Tangiers has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and we have been liaising with the Moroccan Government through the British Embassy in Rabat, but we are not getting any answers,” Mr Douissi said.

“We have a connection via air and sea but these have stopped while Morocco has closed its borders to Gibraltar.”

“Although people can travel via Spain, the prices are very high and it also is a big inconvenience to the older members of the community who are living on the Rock.”

“The rate of infection in Gibraltar is low and most of us are double vaccinated against Covid-19, and we also have a direct connection from Gibraltar so this is just very unfair.”

Mr Douissi added that the Spanish route is not a viable option to the many Moroccan nationals living locally, who may also want to visit Morocco for any number of reasons.

Gibraltar is home to over 3,000 people of Moroccan origin.