Guinea: deadly demonstrations in several cities against police checkpoints

Text by: Carol Valade Follow

Protests in several cities across the country claimed the lives of at least seven people and left several injured Tuesday, police said. In the prefecture of Coyah, 50 km from the capital Conakry, violent clashes between the police and demonstrators broke out after the installation of a new dam supposed to reinforce the isolation of Conakry to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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From our correspondent in Conakry,

It all starts at the end of the morning in the locality of Friguiadi, prefecture of Coyah. A new roadblock has just been installed there to try to enforce the isolation of Conakry and curb the spread of the coronavirus.

But for the locals it is too much. "  Since the beginning of the isolation, there have been increasing reports of racketeering and ill-treatment by the police,  " said a member of civil society. 

The more so as this new dam is located on a section very frequented by the workers and the tradesmen of the zone.

Fearing that it would be synonymous with new humiliations, the inhabitants rebelled, stones were thrown, the police stations and gendarmerie vandalized. "  The police were surprised by the violence of the attacks,  " said the Minister of Security. Shots are heard. Balance sheet: five dead according to the police, who finally decides to move the dam.

A scenario similar to Dubreka, the other exit from Conakry, leaves one dead while in the mining town of Kamsar, it is the lack of electricity that pushes the inhabitants on the street. The mayor's home is ransacked, a young man lost his life.

Protesters also went out to protest the power cuts last week in the northeastern city of Kouroussa. Some people were holding up signs calling for electricity "  at least overnight  ".

► Read also: In Guinea, the revealing effect of the coronavirus

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