In the early hours of Tuesday, Bouabid passed away at the regional hospital in Beni Mellal, following a decline in his health after staging a dramatic solo protest atop a high water tank in the Oulad Youssef, a town in Tadla-Azilal. His sit-in, which lasted over 18 days, was a call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his father's death. The protest gained national attention after Bouabid reportedly blocked rescuersfrom intervening and assaulted one of them, detaining him before throwing him from the top of the tank. A special team from Rabat was dispatched in an effort to bring the standoff to an end. However, the situation took a tragic turn when Bouabid threw himself from the tower, with a rope around his neck, in front of shocked onlookers, a moment captured on video. He was immediately transferred to the regional hospital in Beni Mellal, where he remained in critical condition in the ICU before succumbing to his injuries.
