Ivory Coast: sporadic clashes in several cities

The carcass of a charred bus burned during clashes in Abidjan, October 19, 2020. REUTERS / Luc Gnago

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2 min

A person was killed Monday, October 19 in the town of Bonoua, the home town of Simone Gbagbo.

In Abidjan and in several localities of the country, groups of opposition activists responded to the slogan of their leaders calling for civil disobedience and active boycott, to protest against the candidacy of outgoing President Alassane Ouattara for the presidential election. October 31.

With consequences, clashes and clashes, very localized, with the police.

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With our correspondent in Abidjan, 

In the morning, at the roundabout in the Riviera 2 district of the municipality of Cocody d'Abidjan, several young people installed tires and barricades on the tracks.

A car was set on fire and a bus emptied of its passengers before protesters set it on fire, abandoning its totally charred carcass.

The police intervened and very quickly pushed the militants back to the neighboring district of Anono.

A game of cat and mouse that took place part of the morning.

Caught between the demolition of the demonstrators and the tear gas from the dressed bodies, the residents had no other choice but to take refuge in their homes and the traders to close shop.

Fifty kilometers further east, in Bonoua, the stronghold of former First Lady Simone Gbagbo who already recorded deaths last August, significantly more violent clashes left one dead and several injured.

These clashes took place when the powerful Student and School Federation of Côte d'Ivoire went on strike to demand the removal of additional registration fees and the rehabilitation of 20,000 suspected baccalaureate fraudsters.

La Fesci maintains its slogan across the territory but tells RFI that the demonstrators are not from its ranks.

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• Ivory Coast