'La hora de los cambios': The hour of change in the Arab World?

'THE REVOLTS in Tunisia and Egypt reached Morocco yesterday' said an editorial in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, today. Meanwhile, an article in the same paper showed a picture from Manama in which a protester is holding a placard with the pictures of Ben Ali (Tunisia's former President) and Hosni Mubarak (former Egyptian President) with 1 & 2 under each and then a space with a big question mark and 3 underneath (see cropped version above).

The front page article says that the protest marches in Rabat and Casablanca had been peaceful but that the confrontations in Tangier and Marrakesh had resulted in conflict with the police. One placard said: 'The people reject a Constitution for Slaves!' In an analytical column Javier Valenzuela writes: 'There is good reason for yesterday's protests in Rabat and Casablanca: the country needs more democracy. Morocco is not as oppressive as Tunisia, the Libya of Gaddafi or the Syria of Bachar Asad, but it needs to offer its citizens more liberties and rights.' Another photo showed a lad in Tangier with a poster saying the people need 'bread & soup'.