Thousands of protesters marched on Burkina Faso’s presidential palace after burning the parliament building and ransacking state television offices yesterday, forcing Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend his 27-year rule.
Emergency services said at least three protesters were shot dead and several others wounded by security forces when the crowd tried to storm the home of Compaore’s brother.
Security forces also fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the presidency in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood.
Photo: AFP
Black smoke swirled in the air above parliament after demonstrators lit fires inside the building, before looting computers and televisions screens, and wheeling away police motorbikes, a reporter said.
Lawmakers had been due to vote yesterday on a government plan to change the constitution to allow Compaore — who took power in a coup in 1987 — to stand for re-election next year, when he was due to stand down.
Alain Edouard Traore, communications minister, later said the government had dropped the proposal to amend a two-term limit on the presidential mandate, but protesters said they would not stop until Compaore was forced to step aside.
Burkinabe officials said there were also large-scale protests in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina’s second biggest town, and Ouahigouya, to the north.
“We did this because Blaise was trying to stay too long. We are tired of him,” said Seydou Kabre, a protester in the crowd in Ouagadougou. “We want a change. He must go.”
Most deputies had not yet arrived for the vote when protesters, who had set up barricades outside parliament from early yesterday morning, stormed the building. The crowd surged forward after police fired warning shots in the air.
A reporter saw nearby structures also on fire and vehicles outside parliament being smashed.
State television was forced off the air after the building was taken. Soldiers deployed outside state radio with an armored personnel carrier to defend it.
Opposition leader Zephirin Diabre said on his Twitter feed that he was opposed to any coup in Burkina Faso.
Local radio and a diplomatic source said opposition leaders held talks with influential army General Kouame Lougue about a possible transition. The same diplomatic source said members of Compaore’s government had been arrested at the airport trying to leave the country.
A witness said protesters took one of the dead bodies from the streets and wrapped it in the national flag, while softly singing Burkina Faso’s anthem. They then drove it to the central Place de la Nation, where more protesters had gathered.
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