The November 25 vote is a test of reforms made by Morocco’s ruler, King Mohammed, to try to defuse pressure for change in the Arab world’s longest-serving dynasty in the wake of uprisings this year across the Middle East.
A Reuters reporter in the city of Tangier, across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, said about 10,000 protesters had gathered in a square in the working class Beni Mkada district.
A witness in Casablanca, Morocco’s commercial hub, said at least 6,000 people had turned up for a parallel protest, despite heavy rain. Two western diplomats and a resident in the capital, Rabat, put the turnout for a protest there at about 3,000 people.
At the Tangier protest, one group of protesters carried a mock casket draped in white with the words “parliamentary elections” written across it.
Demonstrators chanted “We are not voting. Long live the people” and “We are not voting because we are not cattle”.
About 200 police officers, equipped with metal riot shields, helmets and truncheons, cordoned off the square but there were no clashes. One police officer put the number of protesters in Tangier at less than 1,000.