OMÉ, Togo, April 8 (Reuters) - Youths burned tires and hurled rocks at riot police officers in Togo's capital on Friday after security forces broke up a march that demanded that presidential elections scheduled for this month be delayed.
There were unconfirmed reports of protests in other parts of Togo. A leading opposition party said one protester was shot dead and five injured in Yoto, northeast of here.
Some 2,000 protesters wearing yellow T-shirts and scarves tried to march on the town hall in Lomé to demand voting cards for the April 24 election, but the police blocked the protest by firing tear gas. Yellow is the color of the main opposition party.
The marchers regrouped in Be, an opposition neighborhood, where bands of young men clashed with security forces. Residents said the running battles had died down by mid-afternoon.
Patrick Lawson, a member of the Union of Forces for Change, the main opposition party, said there were reports of injuries in Be. At a news conference, the party called for a march on Monday to protest against "repression and arbitrary arrests."
Togo slipped into chaos in February after the death of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled the former French colony for 38 years. The army named his son, Faure Gnassingbé, as leader, violating the constitution. Under international pressure, Faure Gnassingbé agreed to step down at the end of February and run for office in the election. A coalition of six opposition parties has demanded the election be delayed, accusing the authorities of "serious irregularities" in compiling voter lists and saying there has not been enough time to organize the voting.
The protest Friday coincided with the official start of election campaigning. The interim president, Abass Bonfoh, called on Thursday for all candidates to promote national unity. "I exhort you all to avoid during this electoral period the splits and excesses that could transform these polls into sterile confrontations, expressions of rancor and a settling of accounts," he said.
In a further sign of underlying tension, an investigating judge sent a former prime minister and past critic of Mr. Eyadéma, Gabriel Agbeyome Kodjo, to jail on Friday just hours after he returned from nearly three years of exile. Mr. Kodjo had been accused of misappropriating funds when he was managing director of Lomé's port.
