Word: hassan
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...five colonels and a commandant-marched into view. Each was tied to a stake, each had his epaulets and insignia ripped from his uniform. Just before the firing squads triggered their lethal volleys, home screens were deliberately blacked out. There were only sounds: the condemned men shouting "Yaish el Hassan el Thani!" (Long live King Hassan the Second) and chanting the Moslem act of faith, which begins "La lllaha ilia Allah" (There is no God but God) just before they died. Then the crack of rifle fire, the angry shouts of onlookers. Before the picture returned, the witnesses spat...
...Hassan was pulled to safety by aides. But the guests, many of whom thought that the shooting was part of the king's birthday fireworks, became ducks in a palatial gallery when loyal troops started firing back. Belgian Ambassador Marcel Dupret fell dead with a bullet in his chest. General Mohammed Nmichi, commander of Morocco's air force, was killed, as were three army generals and two Cabinet Ministers. At least 100 people were wounded including Saudi Arabian Ambassador Fakhri el Adhr and the King's brother, Prince Moulay Abdullah. Hundreds who had expected a pleasant summer...
...Right Royal Damn. Rebels appeared throughout Morocco. Even while hundreds of army cadets attacked at Skhirat, other anti-Hassan forces seized radio stations in Rabat, the capital, and Casablanca, announced that the King had been overthrown, and proclaimed a "revolutionary republic." Shouting slogans like "Socialism has arrived-down with the monarchy!" rebel broadcasters brought thousands of dissident Moroccans into the streets. Many gleefully tore down birthday posters bearing Hassan's portrait. But their demonstration proved short-lived as baton-wielding police beat them back...
...Hassan forces, under Interior Minister General Mohammed Oufkir, quickly rallied. A gaunt, laconic Berber from the Atlas Mountains, Oufkir has been unswervingly loyal to Hassan. Four years ago, after the Moroccan leftist Mehdi Ben Barka disappeared in France, the De Gaulle government tried and convicted Oufkir in absentia for murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment...
Last week Hassan gave his Interior Minister wide authority to put down the disturbances. Oufkir used that power as ruthlessly as he did six years ago, when troops were called out to put down student demonstrations in Casablanca, the first serious anti-Hassan riot...