Morocco arrests leader of northern protest movement

Authorities in Morocco today arrested the fugitive leader of a protest movement that has shaken the country's northern Rif region for months, 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 in October of a fishmonger crushed in a rubbish truck as he protested against the seizure of swordfish caught out of season.

Calls for justice for Mouhcine Fikri, 31, evolved into a grassroots movement demanding jobs and economic development, with Zefzafi emerging as the leader of the Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", based largely in the coastal city of Al-Hoceima.

Zefzafi's arrest was ordered after he on Friday allegedly interrupted a preacher at a mosque and called for further demonstrations.

Prosecutors said the arrest was ordered after Zefzafi "obstructed, in the company of a group of individuals, freedom of worship" at the mosque in Al-Hoceima.

The protest 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.

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(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)