RABAT, Morocco — Morocco’s Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit accused the Justice and Charity Party (Al Adl Wal Ihsane), Democratic Way Party (Annahj) and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights of standing behind the ongoing protests in the northeastern city of Jerada near the border with Algeria. The protests broke out following the death of two brothers in one of the unlicensed coal mines in the city at the end of December.

Speaking April 2 at the meeting of the parliamentary Committee of the Interior and Local Authorities, Laftit said that the legally banned Islamic radical group, the radical left-wing party and the rights association known for its anti-government positions have never acknowledged any of the government’s positive steps in the past years.

During the meeting that was held to discuss the situation in Jerada, the interior minister accused these parties of seeking to spread protests across the country and said that what is happening in Jerada is organized and planned.

Jerada’s mass protests broke out following the death of two brothers who died under the rubble in a mine. Coal mines in Jerada were the main source of income for the city’s 40,000 residents until the government decided to shut them down at the end of the 1990s, leaving no suitable economic alternatives. Residents continued mining coal with cruder and unsafe methods that have caused the deaths of dozens since then.