Demonstrations were organized on Saturday evening in a number of Moroccan cities to protest against the rise in food prices, at the invitation of a coalition of leftist parties.

In Casablanca, more than 60 people in Sraghna Square expressed their "discontentment" over the high cost of living, according to an AFP journalist.

"I can no longer bear it," said Fouad, 21, who participated in the protest at the invitation of the Social Front, a coalition of leftist parties and unions. "Life has become difficult because of the high prices. I feel that I no longer have a future."

"We condemn the policy of the government, which promised to be the government of the social state, but it turned out to be the government of social differences," Abdel Qader al-Omari, a member of the Executive Bureau of the Democratic Confederation of Labor, told AFP.

Groups of demonstrators also gathered in Rabat, Tangiers and Marrakesh.

About sixty demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament in the capital, chanted, "This is a shame, this is a disgrace for the increase in prices. Our country is agricultural and vegetables are expensive for us," according to an AFP journalist.

These demonstrations come in the context of strong inflationary pressures that expose the government to criticism from trade unions, the parliamentary opposition and the local media.

The inflation rate reached 9.4% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 4% in the same period last year, according to the High Commission for Planning.

Inflation increased with the sharp rise in the prices of food products (18.2%) in the month of Ramadan, when the level of consumption usually increases.