Reforms offered; Police action may stir sympathy.

An increasingly tough police response to street protests in Morocco may hand the "Arab Spring" demonstrations a political asset they have conspicuously lacked so far - widespread sympathy among the population.

Squads of police and progovernment thugs charged thousands of protesters in the commercial capital Casablanca on May 29 and shoved, punched and kicked them until they dispersed. Many of those who resisted were thumped with batons.

In Tangiers, a similar clash degenerated into stonethrowing, with injuries on both sides.

The scenes were a far cry from the lethal violence of Syria, Yemen or Bahrain, and Moroccan police to date have not used rubber bullets or tear gas, let alone firearms.

But the muscular response contrasted to an earlier hands-off approach to the demonstrations for major constitutional change in the kingdom, where the political landscape is dominated by a powerful dynasty that has ruled for 350 years.

The movement wants King Mohammed to reign, rather than rule, and curb his economic influence and that of the secretive and influential court elite known as the Makhzen.

Experts say periodic parliamentary elections seem to change little in a system where the royal palace controls key ministries and has the last word on policy.

The king reacted quickly, on March 9 promising reforms that would bolster parliamentary powers under constitutional changes to go to a referendum later this year.

A man wounded by security forces at a May 29 prodemocracy demonstration died of his injuries on Thursday, opposition groups said, in what activists said was the first such death in the current wave of protests. The government said the death of the man, Kamal Amari, was unrelated to the street protests.

The government's chief spokesman said the May 29 demonstrations were banned and that police had acted in response to what he described as provocative behaviour by the protesters.

To some, however, the police response seems an overreaction.

"The authorities made a mistake," said Toufik Bouachrine, editor of independent daily Akhbar Alyoum.

"But the state is afraid of change that comes from the street. It wants any change to come from the summit of power."

He said the authorities appeared to have used violence because the protests had sought to stir unrest.

"A few people getting beaten up is not going to create a huge problem (for the government)," said Michael Willis, a lecturer in North African politics at Oxford University. "If people get killed, then yes."