CASABLANCA: Thousands of demonstrators, including Islamists, held peaceful rallies in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangiers Sunday to demand greater political reforms and social justice in Morocco.
The latest protests were organized by the youth-based February 20 Movement behind months of demonstrations calling for reforms in the Arab world’s oldest reigning monarchy.

In Casablanca’s Sidi Othmane suburb, several thousand protesters shouted slogans to demand “a democratic constitution” and “greater social justice,” AFP reporters witnessed.
Militants of the Islamist Justice and Charity Group, banned but tolerated by the government, joined the protest.
Hundreds of pro-government protesters also gathered in Sidi Othmane, waving portraits of King Mohammad VI, chanting “Long live the King” and singing the national anthem.

The two groups were kept apart by security forces, out in large numbers.
At the same time, more than 1,000 protesters gathered in the capital Rabat and several thousand in Tangiers.
The protests are inspired by similar movements that have toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and by popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
They continue to protest despite a July 1 referendum in which 98 percent of voters approved reforms proposed by the king.

Morocco’s main independent human rights group demanded a judicial investigation into what it said were serious violations that affected the outcome of the poll.
King Mohammad is expected to hand over some of his powers to elected officials under the new charter while retaining a key say over strategic decisions.