Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Moroccan Islamists Throw Chairs at Kissing Couples



muslim feminism
The Arab Spring, Thomas Friedman’s favorite thing since his mustache and flat earth theories, has brought many benefits to the region. One is the Muslim Brotherhood’s political victory in Morocco.

And where there’s the Brotherhood… the good times really begin to roll.
A few dozen Moroccans took part in a “kiss-in” Saturday in Rabat to support three teenagers arrested for posting a picture of themselves kissing on Facebook. The protesters were confronted by onlookers as they kissed and chanted “Long live love”.
Only around a dozen couples actually locked lips in the gathering outside parliament, but the demonstrators insisted they had defended the right to public displays of affection in Morocco’s conservative society.
The kissing case has sparked uproar online, with citizens protesting against what they see as creeping conservatism in the Muslim country long known for being relatively liberal and tolerant.

A small group of counter-protesters shoved some of the couples and threw chairs.
“We are an Islamic country and kissing in public is forbidden. A simple kiss can lead to other things. These are atheists who are acting against Islam,” one of them said.
The couple at the heart of the case, a boy and a girl aged 15 and 14, and their 15-year-old male friend who took the photos outside their school in the northern town of Nador, were arrested last week, charged with “violating public decency” and held in a juvenile centre.
Meanwhile marrying little girls for some reason doesn’t violate public decency in Islam.

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