More than 400 people were arrested and nearly 300 injured after violence broke out Tuesday evening during protests in several Moroccan cities demanding reforms to the public health and education sectors, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Unauthorized demonstrations organized on Tuesday evening, for the fourth consecutive day, at the call of the GenZ 212 group - which recently appeared on the Discord platform and whose initiators are unknown - gave rise to clashes with the police in cities such as Oujda (east) and Inzegane, in the suburbs of Agadir (south).

During the violence, people "used bladed weapons, Molotov cocktails and stones," said Rachid El Khalfi, spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior.

He reported 263 people injured "to varying degrees" among the ranks of the security forces and 23 among the protesters, including one person taken to a hospital in Oujda.

The spokesperson said that 409 people were taken into custody following the clashes, in which more than 140 police vehicles and 20 private cars were set on fire.

"The protesters also stormed government offices, bank branches and businesses, which they looted and ransacked," particularly in Inzegane and Oujda, according to Mr. El Khalfi.

In a tense atmosphere, protesters and police clashed for hours on an avenue in Inzegane, according to AFP images.

People, sometimes wearing balaclavas, threw stones at police officers and set fire to garbage bins and the area around a shopping center, according to videos relayed by local media that AFP was unable to authenticate.

On Tuesday, the prosecution decided that a first group of 37 people, including three in detention, would be tried starting October 7, according to their lawyer, Souad Brahma.

On Wednesday evening, for the fifth consecutive day, new demonstrations are planned in around ten cities.

The GenZ 212 group, which expressed "regret" over Tuesday's violence, describes itself as a "space for discussion" on "issues that concern all citizens, such as health, education and the fight against corruption."

In Morocco, social inequality remains a major problem with strong regional disparities and a gap between the public and private sectors.