A child and two journalists were injured Saturday after Burkina Faso police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters at an anti-government rally in the capital, as anger over jihadist violence mounted in the impoverished country.
Hundreds of opponents of President Roch Kaboré took to the streets in response to a recent surge of attacks in Burkina Faso, including one by al Qaeda-linked militants that killed dozens of military police officers and four civilians.
City authorities had banned the gathering, and anti-riot police on Saturday fired tear gas to prevent the demonstrators from gathering for the rally in a square in the centre of the capital, Ouagadougou, where substantial police and security forces had been deployed and all shops closed.
One of the protesters, 28-year-old Fabrice Sawadogo, said that "after seven years of failure to prevent the terrorist attacks... it is time to ask the government to go". The "incompetent" administration "has to admit it has failed", he said.
Angry youths erected makeshift barricades and burned tyres in several neighbourhoods, including in front of the ruling party headquarters, in an effort to block police movement.
One protester said he and others had come down for a peaceful protest, but that the police's reaction had been excessive, forcing them to set up the barricades. "We don't want to burn down a country already at war, but when faced with savagery, we will defend ourselves," he said.
Child hurt, journalists attacked
An AFP correspondent said a child who appeared younger than 10 was injured after security forces fired the tear gas. Protesters handed the minor over to an anti-riot squad to get treatment.
Local media outlets Pomega and Filinfos said two of their journalists also suffered injuries from the tear gas.
Some youths vandalised part of the civil registry building, after trying unsuccessfully to torch the town hall whose boss had banned the rally.
In another incident, a mob attacked the car of AFP's journalist in the city. "The crowd set upon us, throwing stones," photo-video reporter Olympia de Maismont said. "They wanted to block our car and yelled 'France, we don't want you here!'"
"We managed to escape, but just barely."
No mobile internet
The public's angry response to the latest attacks has unnerved the authorities, who cut mobile internet access a week ago and refused to authorise Saturday's demonstration.
An alliance of three groups called the November 27 Coalition had called for people to take to the streets on Saturday "in a peaceful atmosphere to denounce growing insecurity and demand the departure" of Kaboré.
But other civil society groups distanced themselves from the protests, refusing, they said, "to be complicit with those who want to push the country into chaos".
Security situation deteriorates
Militant groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group have plagued the landlocked West African nation since 2015, killing about 2,000 people and displacing 1.4 million from their homes.
An attack on November 14 saw hundreds of fighters storm a gendarmerie camp at Inata in the north of the country, killing at least 48 military police officers and four civilians.
It was the biggest daily loss among the security forces in the history of the insurgency.
Since then, the country has seen scattered protests.
French military convoy reaches Niger
A French military convoy heading to Mali reached Niger after being delayed for more than a week by protests in Burkina Faso, the French army said on Friday.
The supply convoy of several dozen vehicles arrived in Africa at Ivory Coast last week and had to transit through Burkina Faso and Niger before arriving in central Mali.
But after entering Burkina Faso last week, the convoy was slowed by protesters at Bobo-Dioulasso, the country's second largest city, and then in Ouagadougou.
On November 19, several thousand demonstrators blocked the convoy at Kaya, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Ouagadougou.
The following day, four people suffered gunshot wounds in Kaya, in circumstances that remain unclear – French and Burkinabe soldiers fired warning shots to disperse demonstrators.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
