Over 2,000 people took to the streets of the capital Rabat, 4,000 according to the organisers, shouting: "The people want change."

In Casablanca, the North African nation's biggest city, over 1,000 people came out demanding: "Freedom, dignity, justice," an AFP correspondent reported.

Young Moroccans have called the kingdom-wide demonstrations demanding broad political reforms and gathered several thousand supporters on the social networking site Facebook.

The call appeared to replicate the origins of what became dubbed as "Facebook revolutions" that toppled decades-old regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and sparked deadly protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Morocco.