HUNDREDS of protesters have taken to the streets in Morocco to express anger and frustration after weeks of waiting for emergency assistance in the wake of a devastating earthquake.

Demonstrators in the High Atlas town of Amizmiz chanted anti-government slogans on Tuesday as police tried to contain the crowds. 

The protest took place after storms with torrential rains last weekend worsened the hardship facing residents living in tents near the ruins of their former homes.

Entire neighbourhoods were levelled by the September 8 quake, forcing thousands to live in temporary shelters. 

In Amizmiz and the surrounding villages of Morocco’s al-Haouz province, nearly everyone lost a family member or friend.

Tuesday’s protest was initially organised by a group called Amizmiz Earthquake Victims Co-ordination to draw attention to “negligence by local and regional officials” and to denounce the exclusion of residents from emergency aid.

Co-ordinator Mohamed Belhassan told Moroccan news website Hespress: “The state of the camps is catastrophic.”

The group, however, called off its planned march after a meeting with local authorities, which ultimately pledged to address their concerns. Despite the organisers’ cancellation, hundreds still took to the streets in protest at the conditions in the camps.

In the earthquake’s aftermath, Morocco convened a commission and formed a special recovery fund. 

The government announced earlier this month that it had begun disbursing initial monthly payments of 2,500 Moroccan dirhams (£200) and planned to provide up to 140,000 dirhams (£1,1200)  later to rebuild destroyed homes.

The Amizmiz protest follows  criticism of Morocco for accepting limited aid from only four foreign governments several days after the earthquake killed a reported 2,901 people. 

Officials said the decision was intended to prevent clogged roads and chaos in the days critical to the emergency response. 

Search and rescue crews unable to reach the country expressed frustration at not receiving the green light from the Moroccan government.