RABAT // The fugitive leader of a protest movement in northern Morocco was arrested on Monday, officials said.
A government source and another official from the interior ministry said Nasser Zefzafi, who had been on the run since Friday, had been taken into custody.
Further details of his arrest were not immediately available.
Morocco’s northern Rif region has been shaken by social unrest since the death of a fishmonger in October. Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was crushed in a rubbish lorry as he protested against the seizure of swordfish which were caught out of season.
Calls for justice for Fikri evolved into a grass roots movement demanding jobs and economic development, with Mr Zefzafi emerging as the leader of the Al Hirak Al Shaabi, or “Popular Movement”, based largely in the coastal city of Al Hoceima.
Mr Zefzafi’s arrest was ordered after he on Friday allegedly interrupted an imam at a mosque and called for further demonstrations.
Prosecutors said the arrest was ordered after he “obstructed, in the company of a group of individuals, freedom of worship” at the mosque in Al Hoceima.
The leader later appeared in footage broadcast on social media saying he was “safe and sound” and calling for further demonstrations.
He faces between six months and three years in prison on charges of insulting the imam, making provocative speeches and sowing disturbances.
Evening protests in Al Hoceima, a city of some 56,000 residents, were held on Friday and Saturday, with demonstrators clashing with police. Three members of the security forces were reported to have been seriously hurt on Friday.
Witnesses said hundreds of mainly young demonstrators gathered in two neighbourhoods of the city again on Sunday night, chanting “The state is corrupt!” and “We are all Zefzafi!”
The protesters attempted to make their way to the city centre but were blocked by security forces. After an hour-long face-off with police the youths dispersed without incident.
“We cannot take a single step, the police are everywhere,” an demonstrator said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said a solidarity rally had taken place in the nearby city of Imzouren.
Demonstrations were also reported in two other northern cities, Nador and Tangier, as well as in Casablanca, Marrakech and the capital Rabat, where some 300 people took part.
Police had arrested 22 people in connection with the disturbances in Al Hoceima, according to officials late on Sunday.
* Agence France-Presse
