Morocco's youth-led protests demand better schools and hospitals, prime minister resignation

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Youth-led demonstrators in Morocco took to the streets on Thursday for a sixth straight night despite fears of more violence after police killed three people the night before.

The protesters in at least a dozen cities, including Casablanca, demanded better schools and hospitals, with some calling for Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to resign.

The call for resignation came after police killed three people on Wednesday as largely peaceful protests turned into riots, with banks looted and cars set ablaze.

Though Morocco’s king is the country’s highest authority, protests in Morocco routinely focus on the government charged with carrying out his agenda. On Thursday, hundreds chanted for King Mohammed VI to intervene against the government. Crowds shouted “The people want to topple Akhannouch” and “Government out!” as demonstrations unfolded peacefully.

In his first public remarks, Akhannouch said earlier on Thursday that he was mourning Wednesday’s deaths. He praised law enforcement for its efforts to maintain order and indicated that the government was prepared to respond favorably to the protesters, without detailing reforms under discussion.

“The approach based on dialogue is the only way to deal with the various problems faced by our country," Akhannouch said.

The pledge for new efforts to address the protests came a day after authorities said armed rioters had stormed public buildings and the youth-led anti-government demonstrations showed few signs of abating.

Security forces opened fire at demonstrators on Wednesday, killing three people in Leqliaa, a small town outside the coastal city of Agadir. Morocco's Interior Ministry said the three were shot and killed during an attempt to seize police weapons, though no witnesses could corroborate the report.

The ministry said 354 people — mostly law enforcement — had sustained injuries. It said hundreds of cars were damaged, as well as banks, shops and public buildings in 23 of the country's provinces. Throughout the country, roughly 70% of the demonstrators were minors, according to ministry estimates.

The demonstrations, organized by a leaderless movement known as Gen Z 212 dominated by internet-savvy youth, have taken the country by surprise and emerged as some of Morocco’s biggest in years. By midweek, they appeared to be spreading to new locations despite a lack of permits from authorities.

Those taking part in the so-called Gen Z protests decry what they see as widespread corruption at everyday people’s expense. Through chants and posters, they have contrasted the flow of billions in investment toward preparation for the 2030 World Cup, while many schools and hospitals lack funds and remain in a dire state.

“Health care first, we don’t want the World Cup,” has emerged as among the week's most popular refrains on the street.

Pointing to new stadiums under construction or renovation across the country, protesters have chanted, “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”

The recent deaths of eight women in public hospital in Agadir have become a rallying cry against the decline of Morocco’s health system.

As Morocco prepares to host soccer’s Africa Cup of Nations later this year and politicians gear up for a parliamentary election in 2026, the link has drawn attention to how deep disparities endure in the North African kingdom. Despite rapid development, according to some metrics, many Moroccans feel disillusioned by its unevenness, with regional inequities, the state of public services and lack of opportunity fueling discontent.

“The right to health, education and a dignified life is not an empty slogan but a serious demand,” Gen Z 212 said in a statement.

Officials have denied prioritizing World Cup spending over public infrastructure, saying health sector problems were inherited from previous governments.

Chants were fewer as violence broke out in several cities on Wednesday evening, following days of mass arrests in more than a dozen cities, particularly in places where jobs are scarce and social services lacking.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has said that more than 1,000 people have been apprehended, including many whose arrests were shown on video by local media and some who were detained by plainclothes officers during live television interviews.

The chaos came despite warnings from authorities, political parties in government and the opposition and the organizers themselves. In a statement published on Discord, the Gen Z 212 protest movement earlier on Wednesday implored protesters to remain peaceful and blasted “repressive security approaches.”

Still, the protests have escalated and become more destructive, particularly in cities far from where development efforts have been concentrated in Morocco. Local outlets and footage filmed by witnesses show protesters hurling rocks and setting vehicles ablaze in cities and towns in the country's east and south.

The “Gen Z” protests mirror similar unrest sweeping countries like Nepal, Kenya and Madagascar.

Oubachir reported from Casablanca, Morocco.

People protest against corruption and calling for healthcare and education reform, in Casablanca, Morocco, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)

People protest against corruption and calling for healthcare and education reform, in Casablanca, Morocco, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)

People protest against corruption and calling for healthcare and education reform, in Casablanca, Morocco, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)

People protest against corruption and calling for healthcare and education reform, in Casablanca, Morocco, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)

Security forces disperse a gathering as youth led protests calling for healthcare and education reforms turned violent, in Sale, Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Security forces disperse a gathering as youth led protests calling for healthcare and education reforms turned violent, in Sale, Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

A boy is detained as youth led protests calling for healthcare and education reforms turned violent, in Sale, Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

A boy is detained as youth led protests calling for healthcare and education reforms turned violent, in Sale, Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

People torch and loot a bank as youth led protests calling for healthcare and education reforms turned violent, in Sale, Morocco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.”

In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing."

“The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability," he said. "I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts."

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel's decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested last March. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil, 31, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said on social media Thursday that Khalil should remain free.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level, even though his immigration case isn't complete.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The two-judge majority rejected Freeman's worry that their decision would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments," the judges wrote.

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)