In addition to the riots and chaos at the concert of rapper Taha Fahsi, known as “El Grande Toto”, news spread that a minor girl had been sexually assaulted.
– In response to this news, the Casablanca security state denied registering any complaint or report of a sexual assault incident, last Friday, during the activities of the “Boulevard” festival.
– The same source refuted, in a statement, “all the misleading rumors circulated by accounts and pages on social media, which falsely claimed that a minor girl was raped and other victims stripped of their clothes during this concert.”
Videos circulating on social platforms showed clashes between the fans of the “Boulevard” festival, which caused chaos and riots, as a result of which 20 people were arrested on several charges, including public drunkenness, possession and consumption of drugs, beatings and theft.
The Boulevard Festival launched its twentieth session this year, and it is a musical event held in the city of Casablanca, central Morocco.
scary night
“Sky News Arabia” contacted Osama, who witnessed the incident, and recounted how the party, which began in an enthusiastic atmosphere, during which the audience, consisting mainly of young people and families, enjoyed a night of violence.
According to Osama, the great crowding in the site that hosted the ceremony is the main reason behind what happened after the number of attendees exceeded the capacity of the place, and the stampede among them in the aftermath led to quarrels that developed in many cases to a fight with sticks and batons between groups of Young.
The eyewitness, who described that night as a “night of terror”, added that a state of panic engulfed the attendees, and chaos prevailed in the public space, amid the screaming of girls, especially after the power outage, stressing that he could not, despite that, confirm the occurrence of sexual or sexual assaults. Harassment suffered by the young women present, as some news spoke.
Osama accused those he called “infiltrators” of being behind the chaos and riots that took place at the “Boulevard” festival during that night, which lasted for about two hours, he said.
What did the party organizers say?
- Festival organizers issued a press statement in which they confirmed that the main factor for what happened during the night dedicated to “hip-hop” music is due to the large crowd attendance that exceeded the capacity of the “Racing” stadium.
- In a statement obtained by “Sky News Arabia”, the festival management explained that the high turnout of the public prompted the organizers to close the stadium doors in order to allow the security men and authorities to do their work, and to ensure the safety of the attendees.
- After the Boulevard organizers apologized to the fans who experienced those moments, they pledged to reflect on the causes that led to the riots and mayhem.
Socio-educational reasons
- Many researchers and sociologists attribute the violence and riots witnessed in some artistic demonstrations or football stadiums and other gatherings that include a large number of young people and minors, to social and educational factors in the first place.
- Professor of Social Psychology, Mohsen Benzakour, stresses that, regardless of the shared responsibility for what happened in the “Boulevard” festival, the absence of the necessary supervision for young people, in addition to their lack of accompanying programs, is what results in violent behavior.
- In a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, Benzakor considered that the use of contraband in such cases, in turn, leads to agitating young people, with what might turn a mere entertainment musical event into a cycle of terror and panic.
- Benzakour pointed out that the messages of suffering contained in rap songs also often contribute to inciting the public from adolescents to engage in violent quarrels that would prejudice public order and public life in light of their misunderstanding of the concept of freedom.
- Benzakor called for the necessity of addressing the reasons that encourage the emergence of such practices within society.
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