Ramadan is coming to an end, and in the Arab countries this year it has been accompanied by a rather unusual development: the issue of compulsory fasting versus personal liberty has at last entered the public discourse. 

In Egypt, the police diligently rounded up 150 people for fast-breaking – only to be criticised in the media and challenged on legal grounds by 10 local human rights organisations. In Dubai, three people were arrested for eating or drinking during daylight hours, including a European non-Muslim.

The most surprising turn of events, though, was in Morocco where the Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (MALI) – a group organised through Facebook – attempted to defy Article 222 of the penal code which prescribes a punishment of one to six months in prison and fines of almost 100 euros for breaking the fast.

The website moroccoboard.com describes what happened:

The meet-up was at the train station of Mohammedia, a few miles from Casablanca. Seventy people indicated their intention to attend but only a dozen made it through a cordon of security personnel. "We have called a lot of people because we were surprised by the heavy police presence that we encountered" said Ms Zineb Elghzaoui, journalist and a founder of MALI along with Ibtissam Lachgar, a psychologist.

More than a hundred officers, including riot and mounted police and military personnel had besieged the station and its environs.

"We had to show our backpacks and when they saw we had food, they [police] forced us to return to Casablanca on the next train," explained Lachgar.

The security forces were also keeping back local youth groups who were attempting to confront the Ramadan fast-breaking protesters.

"Our aim was to show that we are Moroccans, but that we do not fast, and that we have a right to exist," Ms Elghzaoui said. “Although the Moroccan constitution guarantees freedom of worship, each year there are arrests for public fast-breaking.”

It was the first protest of its kind in Morocco, and although the demonstration itself was stamped out, it was widely reported within the country. 

The local Council of Ulema has denounced it as the action of "agitators". It is an "abhorrent act that defies the teachings of God”, the council said in a statement.

The Moroccan authorities say that six people connected with the protest will be prosecuted.