Casablanca , Morocco ( CNN ) -- Security forces in Morocco appear to be intensifying their hard-line crackdown on demonstrators , with a second violent clash over the weekend leaving scores of youths injured . On Sunday there were bloody battles on the streets between a youth movement and police . It was the second weekend in a row that police have beaten protesters with long truncheons . Fevrier 20 , Morocco 's Facebook youth movement , staged a rally in the country 's commercial capital without permission from the government Sunday -- sparking waves of police violence and in some cases panicking from individual officers , according to at least one YouTube video clip that shows an officer kicking and striking an old woman caught in the frenzy at least once with a baton . The same clip shows a young man on the ground being beaten and kicked by officers while other colleagues on motorcycles accelerate through crowds striking protesters with long batons . Mounaim Ouihi , one of the organizers of Sunday 's protest , said 15,000 people gathered in the Sbata district of Casablanca to demand more democratic freedoms , jobs and better social conditions . He said police sealed off streets around the district to block people , swelling the numbers , then sent several 30-strong squads of truncheon-wielding officers charging into the crowd . `` There was a lot of violence , and we are now calling a halt , '' Ouihi said . `` This protest has again sent out our message demanding freedom . '' Yet perhaps it 's a message that has fallen on deaf ears in Rabat , the country 's administrative capital . The government 's chief spokesman said the demonstration was banned and that police acted in response to what he described as provocative behavior by the protesters . The protesters `` were warned that this protest was illegal but their behavior was provocative , '' Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said . He added that there had been counter-protests in Casablanca , Rabat and Fez by citizens who wanted to express their anger at the damage to the Moroccan economy caused by the Fevrier 20 protests . `` We are concerned about the violence used ... We call for restraint in the use of force and respect of fundamental freedoms , '' European Union spokesperson Natasha Butler said . `` ... We call on Morocco to maintain its track record in allowing citizens to demonstrate peacefully . We are following these demonstrations very closely , and encourage all parties to engage in a peaceful dialogue with a view to finding solutions to the issues raised by the demonstrators . '' In Morocco , unlike many other Arab countries , demonstrations are usually permitted , as long as a formal application is made to the state . The youth movement claims it has never applied for permits and it is just recently that the government is using this as a pretext to hit it hard . `` Now we are just a few weeks away from the constitution being announced by the king 's own committee and they do n't want any more protests , '' said a protester who wished to be known only as Imad and who was injured in the battle Sunday . Imad claims the police injured `` around 100 people '' who took to the streets Sunday as an immediate show of defiance to the previous weekend . Then , Moroccan police quelled a number of protests across the entire country , stopping supporters of the youth movement demonstrating against corruption and demanding more jobs . The May 22 demonstrations ended in a huge number of casualties and arrests . According to Fevrier 20 , some 90 protesters were hurt , six with fractured arms and two with fractured legs . Neither Sunday 's nor May 22 's demonstrations were legal , according to the government .
Protesters say police on site struck out with truncheons . Government spokesman says demonstrators were provocative . Opposition calls for restraint from police . They demand more freedom , jobs , better conditions .