Security forces in Guinea
killed a protester and wounded four others, witnesses said, as opposition
supporters clashed with police at anti-government rallies in its largest towns
and cities. The
violence broke out after the opposition called for a day of protest against the
restive west African nation's hotly disputed election timetable, capping two
weeks of riots in the capital Conakry. The
protester's body was carried to a regional hospital by fellow activists who
cried "God is greatest", "death to the dictator" and
"justice for all", witnesses said.
A
hospital source in Labe, the country's second-largest city and an opposition
stronghold, said the victim "was beaten with batons by security
forces".
The
government confirmed the death of Ousmane Bah, 28, in a statement and said 14
people were injured, including 11 police officers. Police had made 93 arrests,
the statement said.
AFP report continues:
Violence
between opposition activists and police in Conakry has left several dead in the
past two weeks, but the demonstrators vowed they would continue holding
unauthorized rallies against President Alpha Condé.
As
the situation calmed on Thursday evening, opposition spokesman Aboubacar Sylla
described the protests as "a total success", but admitted the toll
they took on supporters was "very heavy". Nevertheless,
demonstrations would continue, he added.
Clashes
broke out at midday between demonstrators and police in the suburbs of Conakry,
with at least five civilians sustaining minor injuries, witnesses told AFP.
Around
the same time the government reported a "quasi-normal" security
situation over most of the country but added that there had been minor violence
in Conakry and Labe.
"The
opposition has once again defied the law and endangered the lives of our
people," it said in a statement.
- 'We will maintain order' -
Police
vehicles blocked access to the homes of former prime ministers and opposition
leaders Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Toure, an AFP correspondent witnessed,
while officers fired tear gas to stop anyone leaving Diallo's residence.
Demonstrators
and police also clashed in Kindia, Guinea's third-largest city and the
headquarters of the country's military, 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of
Conakry. Local media said a policeman and a protester had been wounded.
Dozens
of opposition supporters were arrested, according to a security source and
Diallo's party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea.
In
the central town of Mamou, where around a dozen police officers were wounded in
clashes earlier this week, security forces blocked the road leading to the
headquarters of the main opposition party, witnesses said.
Activists
in Dinguiraye, northern Guinea, vowed that they would rally despite a large
contingent of security forces who had been brought in from the eastern region
of Kankan, a government stronghold.
The
unrest came a day after Condé had said the country's constitution ruled out the
kind of changes to the election timetable sought by opposition supporters.
"The
Guinean constitution requires that presidential elections take place on a
precise date," Condé told reporters after a meeting with French President
Francois Hollande in Paris.
"We
will do everything possible to maintain order in the republic."
- 'Outstretched hand' -
Guinea's
opposition boycotted parliament in March in protest over the timetable for the
presidential ballot, accusing Condé of using the Ebola epidemic as an excuse to
postpone voting.
The
opposition had called for the local elections -- originally planned for the
beginning of 2014 -- to be held before the October presidential vote but they
are not due to take place until March 2016.
Diallo
said the motivation behind the president's refusal to budge on the timetable
was fear of defeat if the local vote was brought forward.
"It
is not as easy to commit fraud in local elections as it is in national ones --
he would not be able to justify hijacking the vote," the opposition leader
told AFP.
The
last election in Guinea -- September 2013's parliamentary vote -- was delayed
by almost three years, stoking deadly ethnic tensions that have dogged the
nation's politics since independence.
Condé
came to power in 2010, becoming the former French colony's first democratically
elected leader.
One
of the poorest countries in the region despite vast potential for mineral
exploitation, Guinea was run by a succession of autocratic rulers after gaining
independence from France in 1958.
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