Tangier Speech
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The Tangier Speech (Arabic: خطاب طنجة, French: discours de Tanger) was a momentous speech appealing for the independence and territorial unity of Morocco, delivered by Sultan Muhammad V of Morocco on April 9, 1947, at the Mendoubia in what was then the Tangier International Zone, complemented by a second speech the next day at the Grand Mosque of Tangier.[1][2][3] At the time, Morocco was under French and Spanish protectorates, with Tangier designated as an international zone.
Casablanca Tirailleurs Massacre
The Istiqlal Party presented the Proclamation of the Independence of Morocco January 11, 1944. In the document, the nationalist party allied itself with the symbolic figure of Sultan Muhammad V.[4] The proclamation was met with hostility from the French colonial authorities. Ahmed Balafrej, Lyazidi, and 18 others were arrested, and a wave of protests took place in cities throughout the country.[4]
In the days leading up to the sultan's speech, French colonial forces in Casablanca, specifically Senegalese Tirailleurs serving the French colonial empire, carried out a massacre of working-class Moroccans. The massacre lasted for about 24 hours from April 7–8, 1947, as the tirailleurs fired randomly into residential buildings in working-class neighborhoods, resulting in 180 Moroccan civilian casualties. The massacre was instigated in attempt to sabotage the Sultan's journey to Tangier. The Sultan returned to Casablanca to comfort the families of the victims, then proceeded to Tangier to deliver the historic speech.[5][6]
