Mohammed V Square
Grand colonial-era plaza ringed by law courts and city hall, centered on a glowing fountain.
This guide to Mohammed V Square in Casablanca returns to a March afternoon in 2011, when riot police moved against a crowd of a few hundred young Moroccans gathered here during the Arab Spring's February 20 Movement, then still called United Nations Square. It follows what happened to the protesters, including more than a hundred arrests and injuries serious enough for hospital treatment, and names two well-known Moroccans caught up in the crowd, politician Mohamed Sassi and comic Ahmed Snoussi. Around you, look at what frames the square: the old law courts, the central post office and the city hall, all raised roughly a century ago to project a very different kind of authority.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.