Protests against military administration paralyse Guinea capital

Protests against Guinea’s subject authorities and its handling of plans to instrumentality to ideology person brought the superior to a standstill, with organisers saying 1 idiosyncratic was killed.

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The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) said 1 idiosyncratic died aft being deed by a slug successful the Conakry suburb of Hamdallaye, and that respective others had been injured during the protests connected Thursday.

The FNDC is an influential governmental conjugation that called for the demonstrations past week to condemn the military’s “unilateral management” of a instrumentality to civilian regularisation aft it seized powerfulness successful 2021.

The erstwhile ruling Rally for the Guinean People and the National Alliance for Change and Democracy, different conjugation of parties and associations, besides called connected their supporters to articulation the demonstrations.

Authorities have not confirmed the death.

The public prosecutor on Thursday instructed prosecutors in several areas to take immediate legal action against the organizers of the demonstration, which was banned.

The FNDC has accused the military leaders of “systematically refusing” to establish a “credible dialogue” to define the terms of the transition.

The former ruling Rally for the Guinean People (RPG) and the National Alliance for Change and Democracy (ANAD), another coalition of parties and associations, then called on their supporters to join the demonstrations.

Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a briefing in Bissau, ECOWAS regional bloc chair Umaro Sissoco Embalo, said he had recently convinced Guinea’s junta to hasten the return to democracy.

“I was in Conakry with the president of the commission (of ECOWAS) to make the military junta understand the decision of the summit of heads of state that the transition cannot exceed 24 months,” Embalo said.

“They had proposed 36 months, but we succeeded in convincing them,” he added.

But Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, a Guinean minister and spokesperson for the transitional government, told AFP that “neither the government nor the presidency confirm this information about the duration of the transition in Guinea.”

Clashes broke out Thursday morning between young demonstrators and the police in several areas seen as opposition strongholds in the capital, an AFP reporter said.

Protesters erected barricades and burned tires while police fired tear gas to disperse small groups throwing stones.

Most parts of the city center remained calm, but activity nonetheless ground to a halt.

The Boulevard du Commerce, a major roadway usually full of people, was almost deserted by midday.

“We are delighted with the success of our call to demonstrate , it was perfect,” Ibrahima Diallo, the FNDC’s head of operations, told AFP.

“The city has been quiet everywhere; the administration is paralyzed , it’s been a great success for us.”

MTO/Aljazeera