The demonstrations in the usually stable North African kingdom have bucked the perception of young Moroccans as being politically disengaged, and have been organised since last Saturday by GenZ 212, a group active on the web platform Discord.

The group, whose founders remain anonymous, took to Discord on Saturday to call for protests in 14 cities between 6pm (1700 GMT) and 9pm.

The demonstrators have called for reforms to social services, particularly healthcare and education, as well as an end to corruption and the resignation of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, whose tenure ends next year.

On Friday evening, hundreds of people rallied in numerous cities including the capital Rabat and Agadir at the urging of GenZ 212, which bills itself as a collection of “free youth” without political affiliations.

Following the protests on Wednesday, there were reports of violence in several smaller towns.

Three people were killed by gendarmes that night “in legitimate defence” after they allegedly tried to storm a station in the village of Lqliaa, near Agadir, the authorities said.

GenZ 212, which has more than 180,000 members on Discord, insists on the nonviolent nature of its protests, and the gatherings since then have been largely peaceful, according to AFP journalists and local media reports.

The rallies follow on from isolated protests that broke out in mid-September in several cities after reports of the deaths of eight pregnant women at the public hospital in Agadir who had been admitted for cesarean sections.

Demonstrators have seized on the deaths as evidence of the public health sector’s shortcomings, feeding wider discontent over social inequalities.