Police uncover gas arsenal at bomb factory as Barcelona mourns

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel BOSQUE with Hui Min NEO in Madrid, August 20, 2017

Mourners gathered in Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica to remember the 14
 people killed in two deadly vehicle attacks claimed by the Islamic State group
(AFP Photo/PASCAL GUYOT)

Barcelona (AFP) - Spanish police said Sunday they had uncovered a cache of 120 gas canisters at a house believed to be the bomb-making factory of suspects in terror attacks that claimed 14 lives, as Barcelona mourned victims of the rampage.

The suspected jihadists had been preparing bombs for "one or more attacks in Barcelona", regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told reporters, revealing that traces of TATP explosive had also been found.

But the suspects accidentally caused an explosion at the house on the eve of Thursday's attack in Barcelona -- an error that likely forced them to modify their plans.

Instead, they used a vehicle to smash into crowds on Barcelona's Las Ramblas boulevard as it was thronged with tourists, killing 13 people and injuring about 100.

Several hours later, a similar attack in the seaside town of Cambrils left one woman dead. Police shot and killed the five attackers in Cambrils, some of whom were wearing fake explosive belts and carrying knives.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attacks, believed to be its first in Spain.

Police are hunting a Moroccan man suspected of driving the van used in Barcelona, and warn that he could be at large outside Spain.

"We don't know where he is," said Trapero of the 22-year-old suspect, Younes Abouyaaqoub.

'No music, no children, no women'

In the small town of Alcanar, investigators were combing the rubble of a house believed to be the suspects' bomb factory, and where the gas canisters were uncovered.

A French retiree Martine Groby, who lived next door, told AFP of her regret in notifying police about her neighbours.

She comes only several times a year to her pink-painted villa but noticed that four men "who all speak French" had been in the house next door since April.

"They were very discreet, too discreet. The shutters were closed, there was no music, no children, no women," she recalled.

"Sometimes they would stay just two days and they would leave. They said hello to me but never looked me in the eye," added the 61-year-old pensioner.

She said that on Wednesday she was flung to the floor by a violent blast.

"I didn't know they were terrorists. I thought it was our gas canister that exploded," she said.

- Imam's role? -

Traces of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) -- a homemade explosive that is an IS hallmark -- were also found at the house.

Investigators said they believe the terror cell comprised at least 12 men, some of them teenagers.

Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia were among the dignitaries

attending the ceremony (AFP Photo/PASCAL GUYOT)

An imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, is among the suspects, police confirmed.

He is believed to have radicalised youths in Ripoll, a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees, where several suspects -- including Abouyaaqoub -- grew up or lived.

On Saturday, police raided the imam's apartment there. Investigators are also looking for DNA traces to see if the imam may have been blown up in the explosion in Alcanar.

Radicalising youngsters

The imam was reportedly known to police, with Spanish media saying he had spent time in prison.

El Pais and El Mundo quoting anti-terror forces said the imam had met prisoners linked to the Al-Qaeda-inspired bombing of Madrid trains that killed 191 people in March 2004 in what remains the worst terror attack in Europe.

Nordeen El Haji, 45, who four months ago moved into the apartment that Satty occupied, said that "on Tuesday morning, (the imam) left saying that he was going on vacation to Morocco."

"He spoke little, spent most of the time with his computer in his room, and had an old mobile phone with no internet, and few books," said Satty's flatmate.

'Brainwashed'

In the Moroccan town of M'rirt, relatives of Abouyaaqoub accused the imam of radicalising the young man, as well as his brother Houssein.

"Over the last two years, Younes and Houssein began to radicalise under the influence of this imam," their grandfather told AFP.

Most of the suspects are children of Moroccan immigrants, including Ripoll-born Moussa Oukabir, 17, one of five suspects shot dead in Cambrils. His older brother Driss is among the four arrested.

Las Ramblas in Barcelona, where the deadliest attack took place, has been turned

into a sea of flowers and candles to honour the victims (AFP Photo/JOSEP LAGO)

A cousin said Moussa "loved playing football, having a good time, chatting up girls".

"The last few months, he started to become interested in religion. He used to go to a mosque in Ripoll. Maybe that's where he was brainwashed," the cousin said.

Snipers on rooftops

Three days after the attack that plunged the country into deep grief, locals and tourists turned out in force on Sunday to mourn victims at Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica.

King Felipe, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalonia's president, Carles Puigdemont, led the 90-minute ceremony commemorating the victims, who came from three dozen countries, some as far afield as Australia, China and Peru.

The individual tragedies lengthened on Sunday as the family of a seven-year-old British-Australian boy, Julian Cadman, who had been listed as missing, confirmed that he was among the 13 killed in Barcelona.

"He was so energetic, funny and cheeky, always bringing a smile to our faces," his family said.

"We are so blessed to have had him in our lives and will remember his smiles and hold his memory dear to our hearts."

#UPDATE Catalan authorities says #Barcelona terror cell 'neutralised' https://t.co/zNESpuI1fS pic.twitter.com/fXWZNA3BaI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 20, 2017

'They're our neighbours': Hometown of Spain attack suspects in shock

Yahoo – AFP, Alfons LUNA, August 19, 2017

Catalan police officers detain a handcuffed suspect in Ripoll during a search
 linked to the deadly terror attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of
Cambrils (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

Ripoll (Spain) (AFP) - In the Spanish border town of Ripoll, everyone knows each other -- making it all the more shocking to residents that jihadists believed responsible for this week's deadly twin attacks lived among them.

"You are neighbours your entire life and they end up doing this," said Maria, a waitress in the town of around 10,000 inhabitants, who declined to give her full name.

The attackers killed 14 people and left 120 others wounded, using vehicles to mow down pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday and in the nearby Catalan seaside resort of Cambrils early Friday.

At least seven of the 12 suspects grew up or lived in Ripoll.

Most were children of Moroccan immigrants, including Ripoll-born Moussa Oukabir, 17, one of five "suspected terrorists" shot dead after the Cambrils attack.

Likewise, his neighbour Mohamed Hychami, 24, and 18-year-old Said Aallaa, who were also in the car turned into a deadly weapon, called Ripoll home.

At least three of four other suspects detained were also inhabitants of the little town that attracts skiers en route to the Pyrenees mountains bordering France.

And on Saturday, officers raided the apartment of an imam in Ripoll, Abdelbaki Es Satty, according to his flatmate who gave his name only as Nourddem.

"The last time I saw him was Tuesday and he told me that he was going to see his wife in Morocco," Nourddem told AFP.

But Spanish daily El Pais, quoting police sources, said the imam may have been one of those killed in an explosion in a house in Alcanar, some 200 kilometres south of Barcelona, where the alleged jihadists were believed to have been building bombs.

'They came in for a beer'

Everywhere across town, the dismay that one of their own had carried out the deadliest attack in Spain since 2004 was palpable.

Stunned locals looked on as heavily armed officers raided several homes on Friday, including one next to the central Plaza Grande square filled with cafe terraces.

A waiter at one of the cafes told AFP he had served beers to the suspects numerous times, most recently just two days ago.

"They came to have beer at another bar in the square where I used to work. Two days ago they came, two of them and a child. They had a Heineken, a cafe au lait and the child had a juice," said the waiter, who declined to give his name.

A Catalan police officer holds a bag in Ripoll after carrying out a search linked 

to Spain's deadly terror attacks (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

The suspects behaved normally, and gave no reason to be watchful of them, he added.

"Of course it is surprising," a customer of one of the bars, Alberto Batlle, told AFP of the attacks.

"You usually see these things on television happening in other countries and you always believe it will continue to happen to others. And it really affects you, when it happens in Barcelona and it is the work of people from Ripoll."

Yasmila, the neighbour of one of the alleged jihadists, also said that the suspect Said Aallaa was a hardworking and good youth.

"A friend apparently called him on Thursday at 3pm and he went out for a drive," she said, recalling the event two hours before the Barcelona attack.

Signs of radicalisation?

But other locals say there had been visible signs that some in the local Muslim community may have become more radicalised, with some becoming less social.

The opening of a mosque in 2008 prompted controversy in a town that is home to a monastery dating back to the year 888, according to media reports, while more recently a local newspaper column had urged authorities to "check the speech of some imams who were preaching during Ramadan".

Ripoll Mayor Jordi Munell angrily rejected this, saying that if someone saw something suspect, they must tell authorities.

"Today, for example, a person told me that one of (the suspects) had written a radical message on social media. That's true, four years ago! And never again," he said.

"When it's happened, it's very easy to say 'I knew it'."

That's exactly what a man of around 60 said.

"Those who know these north Africans are not surprised," he told AFP.

"You can't say that, they're not all the same," was the retort of a woman who lived next door to Moussa Oukabir.

She added that Moussa's older brother, Driss -- arrested on Thursday -- was a "very well-raised boy".

He told officers that his identity papers, which had been used to rent the van that ploughed into pedestrians in Barcelona, had been stolen by Moussa, according to police sources.

La comunitat islàmica es manifesta a #Ripoll pic.twitter.com/kujb8IDsOE

— Corisa (@CorisaMediaGrup) August 19, 2017

European commission to sail in Amsterdam’s Gay Pride festival

DutchNews, February 15, 2016

The annual Amsterdam Gay Pride parade will be joined this year for the first time by a boat sponsored by the European Commission. The theme of this year’s parade is Europe. 

The aim of the commission’s involvement is to bring discrimination against LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) people to Europe’s attention, the Parool says on Monday. 

The commission is one of 80 boats taking part in the parade. Amsterdam Gay Pride kicks off on ‘Pink Saturday’ July 23 and lasts until Sunday August 7 – covering two weeks and three weekends for the first time. 

The festival’s highlight is the canal parade on Saturday August 6 along the Prinsengracht canal and Amstel river, watched by 300,000 spectators. 

In addition to the European Commission’s entry, the canal parade will include a sports boat sponsored by Adidas and featuring four Amsterdam gay sports clubs, a Moroccan boat, and a boat featuring pop singer Kamaliya, described as the ‘Ukrainian Lady Gaga.’

Soldier criticizes racism following Cologne attacks

Nariman Reinke, a soldier of Moroccan origin, has decided to take a stand against the assaults of New Year's Eve and the racism that has followed. She has had a decidedly mixed response.

Deutsche Welle, 26 January 2016

In the days after New Year's Eve, police reported that a series of sexual assaults and muggings had occurred around Cologne's central train station. They ultimately received hundreds of complaints and at one point believed that the attacks potentially involved up to 1,000 men of North African origin, primarily Moroccan. Hamburg and Stuttgart witnessed similar incidents, though on a smaller scale. The revelations shocked the German public, with calls to reduce the number of migrants to the country.

Thirty-six-year-old Nariman Reinke, daughter of Moroccan parents and now soldier with the German army, or Bundeswehr, decided to write a Facebook post about the incident.

"Ich bin deutsch und Muslima. Und Soldatin." Stellungnahme der stellv. Vorsitzenden. #koeln https://t.co/ES2UZuJFtE pic.twitter.com/Qd7om38N4J

— Deutscher.Soldat. (@dtschrsldt) January 14, 2016

"People began making generalizations," Reinke told DW. "When rumors cropped up that there were some refugees among the offenders, the incident was completely mixed up with Germany's refugee policy. 'You brought the criminals in yourself,' they said. Islam preaches only crime. Then they spoke about Salafism in the same breath, about terror in the same breath. ... It was enough."

Syrian refugees condemned the
sexual assaults on New Year's Eve

She even had to contend with people who accused her of not understanding the plight of the women who had been harassed. "Sexual harassment - against women, men or children- is bad," Reinke said. "I don't want anyone to experience this."

Reinke's Facebook post begins with her saying she is a "German and a Muslim." She says she was "ashamed" and felt "sick" when she heard that there were several Moroccans among the men who harassed women in Cologne on December 31.

"My parents worked very hard to establish themselves here ..." Reinke told DW. "I cringe when I hear these people who sexually assaulted women were from Morocco."

Reinke said she also feels bad when she hears about a refugee home being attacked. "For me it is attempted murder ... because then people say, 'All Germans are Nazis.' And that makes me cringe too."

Reinke's message unleashed an outpouring of reactions. She said her supervisors at the Bundeswehr and her organization Deutscher Soldat, which volunteers for refugee causes, were very cooperative. "I did not realize that it had been shared so much," she said, adding that she was on holiday and looking for wedding dresses with her best friend who was getting married.

Up to 1,000 men, some allegedly of
 North African origin, are reported to have
 sexually attacked and robbed hundreds
of women in Cologne December 31

"I had a lot of positive feedback, but also a lot of negative comments, many racist comments that had nothing to do with what I wrote," Reinke said.

Reinke said the attacks would surely have long-term repercussions for foreigners and their children in Germany. "My brother likes keeping a beard, my husband too," she said. "They find it nice. But my brother was beaten up on the street because of the beard because those who did it thought he was a radical Islamist. He had to shave off his beard."

Above all, she said, Germany must not begin denying help to persecuted people.

Related Article:

Refugee homes for homosexuals set to open in Nuremberg and Berlin

Moroccan asylum seeker sets himself alight in German town

A Moroccan asylum seeker has been badly injured after setting himself alight on a German street. He was protesting his imminent deportation.

Deutsche Welle, 19 April 2015

Rejected asylum seekers about to enter plane. Photo: Patrick Seeger/dpa

Police said on Sunday that the 36-year-old Moroccan man had suffered life-threatening injuries after pouring petrol over himself and setting it alight in the town of Lingen in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony.

He had previously rung police to warn them of his suicide attempt, which took place on a public street late on Saturday evening.

Passers-by threw him to the ground in a bid to put out the flames before police arrived with a fire extinguisher.

The man was first taken to a local hospital, then flown by helicopter to a specialist burns unit in the western city of Gelsenkirchen.

The suicide attempt was carried out in protest at the man's scheduled deportation on Monday, after German authorities had refused his application for political asylum.

Germany, already Europe's most populous nation, has become the top destination for asylum seekers in Europe. It saw a rise of 60 percent in asylum requests last year, bringing the number of applications to more than 200,000, and they are expected to increase further this year.

tj/kms(AFP, dpa)

Pope urges global response to migrant crisis in Mediterranean

Related Articles:

Pope urges global response to migrant crisis in Mediterranean

As refugee numbers rise, German study looks at what motivates volunteers to help out




Crisis cabinet talks over failed asylum seekers resume in The Netherlands

"Return of the Masters" - Apr 11-12, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

Top French court OKs Franco-Moroccan same-sex marriage

Yahoo – AFP, 28 Jan 2015

The Cour de Cassation, France's highest appeals court, on Wednesday gave the

go-ahead for a French-Moroccan gay couple to marry (AFP Photo/Martin Bureau)

Paris (AFP) - France's highest appeals court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a French-Moroccan gay couple to marry, going against a ruling that homosexuals from Morocco and 10 other nations cannot tie the knot in the country.

France legalised same-sex marriage in 2013 after months of intense and sometimes violent protests, and the couple -- Dominique and Mohammed -- immediately got to work planning their official union.

But just two days before the wedding, prosecutors in the southeastern city of Chambery ruled it could not go ahead.

They cited a government circular stating that nationals from countries as diverse as Morocco, Poland and Laos were not allowed to marry people of the same sex in France.

They are among 11 nations that ban gay marriage and had signed agreements with France under which a citizen in a binational couple must obey his or her own nation's marriage law.

Since their failed attempt to tie the knot, two separate courts had ruled that Dominique and Mohammed -- who have asked for their last names not to be published -- could marry.

So prosecutors took the case to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest appeals court.

On Wednesday, the court said that a clause in the agreement signed between France and Morocco on the issue stipulated that the law of one of the countries could be discarded when it was "obviously incompatible with public order".

Public order is a set of rules that help organise a nation, its economy, health system, security, and also includes the rights and freedoms deemed necessary for each citizen.

The court ruled that freedom to marry was a fundamental right in France, and going against it would therefore be incompatible with public order.

The decision could create a precedent and allow gay citizens from the 11 countries concerned to tie the knot in France.

Socialist President Francois Hollande, who had pledged to legalise gay marriage after taking office, faced a huge backlash from the opposition right and the powerful Catholic Church.

The first gay wedding in France was held in May 2013 in the southern city of Montpellier, which has a gay-friendly reputation.

Related Article:

US supreme court agrees to hear cases on right to same-sex marriage nationwide

Italy arrests 'ndrangheta mafia suspects

Italian police have launched a major sweep for 163 suspected members of the 'ndrangheta mafia. Arrests were made in Calabria, its southern homeland, as well as Italy's northern region of Emilia-Romagna.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Jan 2015

Italy's national anti-mafia prosecutor, Franco Roberti, described Wednesday's arrests as "historic" for the juristic battle against 'ndrangheta and its expanded operations.

More than 40 arrests were made in southern Calabria, but the bulk of them, 117, took place in towns and cities across northern Italy, most in the region of Emilia Romagna.

In recent years the 'ndrangheta has taken control of Europe's cocaine trade, overtaking the Sicilian and Neapolitan mafias, and has made inroads into Latin America and the United States.

Roberti described the group as a "deeply implanted and very dangerous criminal organization."

"It is an impressive and decisive step against the mafia in the north," he said.

Arrests made by thousands of police

Thousands of police were involved in the arrest operation codenamed "Aemilia" on Wednesday, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Bologna's chief prosecutor, Roberto Alfonso, said at a press conference that those arrested in the north included six alleged bosses of a semi-autonomous clan.

The suspects faced charges of extortion, usury, participation in mafia organizations and illegal possession of weapons.

Last week, Italian police made 31 arrests in connection with an alleged plot by an offshoot of the 'ndrangheta' to take control of the cocaine trade.

Links with Colombia and Morocco

The bosses of a 'ndrangheta offshoot were reported to have lived in Rome for years, and to have established links with cocaine producers in Colombia and smuggling operators in Morocco.

In the course of last week's Rome raids, police seized some 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of cocaine, hashish and a stash of firearms.

Police said those arrests stemmed from inquiries into the 2013 murder of Roman mobster Vincenzo Femia and secret video recordings of induction ceremonies.

The name 'ndrangheta comes from Greek for courage or loyalty.

ipj/sms (dpa, AFP)

Related Article:

Italy captures mafia initiation rites on film, 40 arrests

Morocco releases British tourist jailed for ‘homosexual acts’

Family expresses relief after launching campaign to free Ray Cole, 69, who was arrested at bus stop with local man

The Guardian, Patrick Strudwick, Tuesday 7 October 2014

Ray Cole, pictured with his son Adrian, was forced to sleep on a concrete
floor in the Morocco prison. Photograph: PA

The British tourist held in a Moroccan prison after being arrested for “homosexual acts” has been released and is on his way home to Britain.

Ray Cole’s son Adrian told the Guardian on Tuesday: “It’s all happened much quicker than we could have ever hoped. I just received a call from the consulate saying he is about to board a British Airways flight to London.

“We are incredibly relieved. It seems as though the authorities there responded to the fact that we had gone through all the proper channels, lodging an appeal and working with the ambassador.”

A statement released by the family said Cole, 69, was boarding a flight from Marrakech. “We would like to thank everyone here and in Morocco who has helped our campaign to secure the release of our wonderful father. And we would like to thank the Moroccan authorities for showing clemency and compassion.”

Cole was arrested on 18 September at a bus stop in Marrakech with Jamal Jam Wald Nass, a local man in his 20s with whom Cole had struck up a relationship online several months previously. It was Cole’s second visit to the north African country, after a two-week trip in the spring, and he had planned to stay for five weeks on another sightseeing trip with Nass.

But after posting daily updates on his Facebook page of their visits to souks and other tourist attractions, Cole’s messages both on social media and to his family in Kent and Berkshire stopped. Approached by police who, for reasons that remain unclear, suspected him of homosexuality, Cole was arrested and detained along with Nass.

In custody, the Moroccan authorities found a photo on his phone purportedly providing evidence of “homosexual acts”, which are illegal in the predominantly Muslim country. They then investigated his Facebook page and email account in search of corroborating evidence.

Concerned by the lack of contact, Cole’s family contacted the Foreign Office. Interpol and the consulate investigated Cole’s whereabouts for several days until the Moroccan authorities told them of his location in prison.

After an initial trial was adjourned because Cole had neither legal representation nor a translator, he was eventually tried and found guilty of “homosexual acts” on 2 October, as his family watched from the court. Both he and Nass were sentenced to four months in prison.

Adrian Cole said on Monday that he had launched a campaign for his retired father’s release amid concerns over his health – including a history of heart conditions and a stroke – and the “chaotic” trial and stark prison conditions. Cole, who volunteers as a driver taking elderly people to hospital in his home town of Deal, in Kent, was forced to sleep on a concrete floor throughout his time in prison.

The family set up an online petition for his release and a crowdfunding page to help pay the legal and translator fees. An appeal was lodged last week, which the family had been expecting to take place in several weeks’ time.

The gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described the arrest of a British tourist on such charges as “extremely unusual”.

Related Article:

US supreme court decision paves way for sweeping expansion of gay rights

Morocco king revokes Spanish paedophile pardon: palace

Google – AFP, 4 Aug 2013

Handout photo released by Moroccan Press Agency shows King

 Mohammed VI on July 30, 2013 in Casablanca (Moroccan Press

Agency/AFP/File)

RABAT — King Mohamed VI of Morocco on Sunday revoked a pardon granted to a Spanish serial paedophile whose release sparked angry protests in the kingdom, a palace statement said.

The king "has decided to withdraw the pardon previously accorded to Daniel Galvan Vina", said the text of the statement, published by the official MAP news agency.

It said the "exceptional" decision was taken because of the "gravity of the crimes committed and out of respect for the victims' rights".

Although several media reports have said Vina has left the country, the agency said the justice minister would discuss with Madrid "the next step after the pardon's revocation".

The king's announcement came shortly before a large demonstration was due to take place against the pardon, after baton-wielding police dispersed demonstrations on Friday.

Sit-ins planned for Casablanca on Tuesday and Rabat on Wednesday were planned to still go ahead.

Vina, said to be in his 60s, was pardoned by the king and freed last Tuesday from jail in Kenitra, north of the capital. He had been sentenced in September 2011 to 30 years in prison.

Vina, convicted of raping 11 children aged between four and 15, was among 48 Spanish prisoners released in response to a request from Spanish King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco in mid-July, the justice ministry said.

Earlier, the palace said in a statement carried on MAP that the king had been unaware of the nature of the man's crimes and had ordered a probe into his release.

The investigation should "determine the responsibilities and the failures that led to this regrettable release", the statement said.

"The king was never informed -- in any way or at any time -- of the seriousness of the abject crimes of which the person concerned was convicted," the palace added.

"It is clear that the sovereign would never have consented" to his release, given the "monstrous crimes" he committed, the statement concluded.

The pardon sparked outrage in the north African country, which has seen several high-profile paedophile arrests in recent months.

Protesters slammed the pardon as "an international shame" with one demonstrator saying the state "defends the rape of Moroccan children".

On June 20, police arrested a suspected British paedophile after local residents overheard screams from a six-year-old girl he allegedly abducted.

And in May, a Casablanca court jailed a 60-year-old Frenchman for 12 years after convicting him of paedophilia.

Related Articles:

Freed child rapist Daniel Galvan Vina arrested in Spain

Furious Moroccans Plan More Protests Over Spanish Pedophile

Furious Moroccans Plan More Protests Over Spanish Pedophile

Jakarta Globe - AFP, August 4, 2013

A protester bleeds during a demonstration against a royal pardon for
a Spanish pedophile, in Rabat late August 2, 2013. (Reuters Photo)

Rabat. Moroccans furious over the pardon of a Spanish pedophile convicted of raping 11 children aged between four and 15, are planning more protests as the king on Saturday announced an investigation into his release.

Social media sites have called for fresh protests in Casablanca and Rabat next week after baton-wielding police dispersed demonstrations on Friday.

Daniel Galvan Vina, said to be in his 60s, was pardoned by King Mohammed VI and freed on Tuesday from jail in Kenitra, north of the capital.

He had been sentenced in September 2011 to 30 years in prison.

Galvan was among 48 Spanish prisoners released in response to a request from Spanish King Juan Carlos, who visited Morocco in mid-July, the justice ministry said.

But royal palace said in a statement carried on Morocco’s official MAP news agency that the king had been unaware of the nature of Galvan’s crimes and had ordered a probe into his release.

The investigation should “determine the responsibilities and the failures that led to this regrettable release,” the statement said.

“The king was never informed — in any way or at any time — of the seriousness of the abject crimes of which the person concerned was convicted,” the palace added.

“It is clear that the sovereign would never have consented” to his release, given the “monstrous crimes” committed, the statement concluded.

Galvan is thought to have already left the country.

The incident has sparked outrage in the north African country, which has seen several high-profile pedophile arrests in recent months.

On Friday night, baton-wielding police dispersed several thousand people who tried to protest in front of the parliament in Rabat.

Dozens were injured, including reporters and news photographers, and some had to be hospitalised.

Others were held outside the Moroccan embassy in Paris on Saturday and in Kenitra, where the man had been held.

Police also broke up demonstrations in Tanger and Tetouan.

Protesters slammed the pardon as “an international shame” with one demonstrator saying the state “defends the rape of Moroccan children.”

One young woman student told AFP: “This is the first time I have been to a demonstration because I am outraged by this pardon which has set this pedophile free.”

Hakim Sikouk, who also took part in the Rabat protest, told AFP: “I was with a group of friends in front of the parliament when the police intervened violently. I was hit on the head.”

In June, thousands of Moroccans marched in Casablanca to condemn pedophilia and violence against children in the north African country.

On June 20, police arrested a suspected British pedophile after local residents overheard screams from a six-year-old girl he allegedly abducted.

And in May, a Casablanca court jailed a 60-year-old Frenchman for 12 years after convicting him of pedophilia.

Abdelali Hamieddine, a senior member of the ruling moderate Islamist Party of Justice and Development, said the pardon was a “mistake.”

“Moroccans have the right to demonstrate when they feel humiliated and the authorities do not have the right to step in so violently,” he added.

Agence France-Presse