Clashes break out as Guinea strike worsens
January 16 2007 at 01:15AM
By Saliou Samb
Conakry - Police in Guinea's capital fired warning shots when they clashed
with stone-throwing protesters on Monday as tensions escalated over a
general strike called by unions trying to oust the West African country's
president.
Union leaders threatened to halt Guinea's important bauxite industry as
they sought to increase the pressure on ageing President Lansana Conte to
step aside.
In street clashes in Conakry on the sixth day of the nationwide stoppage,
riot police fired teargas at groups of rioting youths who burned tyres and
smashed car windows, police and witnesses said.
Police said they made several arrests, including some protesters found to
be carrying firearms, before calm returned to the worst-hit
neighbourhoods.
"They fired on us. We've seized some firearms along with protesters. We'll
be investigating where these arms came from," a senior police officer, who
asked not be named, told Reuters.
He said one group of demonstrators had tried to break into a police
station to seize arms.
Union and opposition leaders say Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s
who seized power in a 1984 coup, has become increasingly erratic in his
decisions and unfit to rule.
The violent protests in at least four neighbourhoods of the Guinean
capital defied an official ban on public demonstrations. Extra soldiers
and police have been patrolling the streets.
Security sources reported clashes in the Hamdalaye, Cosa, Fangoyah and
Matam quarters of the city.
Earlier, strike leaders said that unless a solution was found they would
halt bauxite production on Thursday in the world's biggest single exporter
of the ore from which aluminium is extracted.
Conte met strike leaders late on Friday and asked them to put their
demands in writing.