Moroccans protest prison sentences of anti-poverty activists

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Morocco's capital to condemn lengthy prison sentences given to dozens of activists, including the leader of the Hirak Rif poverty-fighting movement.

The demonstration on Sunday brought one of the main avenues of Rabat to a standstill. Security forces kept watch as participants sang, "The people want the detainees released" and "Long live Rif."
"They know they will die in prison," Zefzafi's father told The Associated Press. "The people protesting today know it, too. That's why they are here."
Under rainy skies, protesters held Zefzafi's portrait as they gathered near the parliament building and chanted, "We are all Zefzafi." One wrote on his belly in Arabic: "You tortured us, you impoverished us, and you stripped us."
"Zefzafi and his comrades demanded social justice and creation of schools and hospitals. How is that a crime?" the secretary general of the opposition United Socialist Party (PSU), Nabila Mounib, said during Sunday's protest. "They want us to live in oppression."