Some 3,500 jobless graduates peacefully march in Rabat

Some 3,500 Moroccan jobless graduates marched on Monday through the streets of downtown Rabat to ask for jobs and protest the government's inaction.

The demonstrators shouted slogans calling for the employment of all the jobless "without discrimination" and for the cancellation of judiciary action against the militants of the National Association of Jobless Graduates.

The march was staged to protest "the false dialogue and unfulfilled promises made by the government" during the first national meeting on employment held last December in Marrakesh, southern Morocco, the Association's Secretary-General Redouane Hakkouri told the press.

The march "was a success, as we have proved that Moroccans are able to protest without harming public order," Hakkouri said, adding that the protest movement will continue. He noted that Morocco's employment problems require the creation of a "national front against joblessness."

The government said it will create 10,700 jobs during the next fiscal year 1999-2000.

Hakkouri said the proposed figure is insignificant to address joblessness which reaches more than 18 percent.