In North Africa football stadiums are being used to express solidarity for the Palestinians amid the Gaza war.
As early as October 8 -- the day after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on Israel that sparked the war -- supporters of Raja Club Athletic in Casablanca revived an old chant.
"You for whom my heart is saddened," goes the song which spread throughout the Arab world. "Our tears have been flowing for years. Palestine, my beloved, the Arabs are asleep. You, the most beautiful country, must resist."
In Algiers, dramatic choreographed fan displays, known as tifos, depicted giant figures in the traditional keffiyeh scarf associated with the Palestinian cause and calls for a "free Palestine".
There have also been vows to "avenge the (Palestinian) children" as well as support for the "resistance fighters in the heart of the tunnels" -- a reference to Hamas's tunnels under Gaza.
Supporters interviewed by AFP in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia used pseudonyms and covered their faces to conceal their identities.
Seif, a 28-year-old member of the Zapatista Ultras, who support Esperance Sportive of Tunis, said the Palestinian issue added to other more local ones, citing Tunisian corruption and the death of teenaged supporter Omar Laabidi who drowned during a police chase in 2018.
Throughout the region, political dissent in football stadiums takes place against a backdrop of repression and a lack of freedom of assembly and expression, according to human rights groups, which only worsened following the Arab Spring.
Algeria, which saw massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 that ousted former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, later banned large-scale demonstrations.
As in Morocco, pro-Palestinian rallies have been allowed by the authorities.
Hamza, an ultra for Wydad AC, said:"It's much simpler to say it in a stadium," he said, where the "crowd effect" allows you to "let loose", the 21-year-old communications student added.
Mohamed Jouili, a sociology professor at the University of Tunis, said politics and sports have always been linked.
The ultras "want to show that they're doers and not merely a reckless group of football fans -- that they, too, have a viewpoint on society".
Abdelhamid, an Algerian member of the group Amor e Mentalita which supports MC Alger, said ultras were "not politicians", but "the truth always comes out of the stadium".
