Spain: 'Undocumented' Moroccans step up protest against regularization requirements

Tens of thousands of "undocumented" Moroccans in Spain stepped up protest against the stringent requirements of the government regularization process.

Moroccans vented their protest through holding demonstrations, sit-ins in public places in a number of Spanish cities, especially Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Malaga, Almer’a and Corona.

Held at the initiative of the Association of Moroccan Immigrants and Workers in Spain (ATIME), the demonstrations request the Spanish government to review the conditions stipulated by the provision of the law on foreigners for the normalization of "undocumented" immigrants.

Spain's government, which launched, in February 7, a three-month long process of regularization of "undocumented" immigrants, requires the submission of a residence certificate and a work contract to be eligible to normalization.

Immigrants groups and many Spanish unions and human rights associations denounced the blackmail practiced by some employers who exact large amounts of money (ranging between Euro 2,000 and 5,000) from immigrants for delivering work contracts.

ATIME chairman Mustapha Lamrabet deplored that 90% of "undocumented" workers in the agricultural field will be excluded by this process, which will "perpetuate the exploitation situation in which these people live."

Less than 5,000 Moroccans benefited from the process, while Spain accounts for some 100,000 "undocumented" Moroccan immigrants.