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3 dead after anti-government protests turn violent in Guinea

Tensions in the capital are high just days after the deaths of three youths, who the opposition said that they were shot by the security services as they attended a funeral march for 11 people killed in unrest since mid-October.

3 dead after anti-government protests turn violent in Guinea

Representational image (Photo: IStock)

Clashes broke out between demonstrators and security officers in the anti-government protests in Guinea that left three people dead on Thursday, according to the city’s mayor.

Earlier on Thursday, the alliance of opposition groups behind the protests did not call a rally.

But tensions have remained high in the central city of Labe, its mayor Mamadou Aliou Laly Diallo said, and they spilled over into clashes.

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“The town has been in turmoil since this morning, the people revolted,” Diallo told AFP.

Two people were shot dead in clashes, he said, adding to that he thought about ten more were wounded in shooting from security officers.

Last year, thousands of Guinean protesters took to the streets in the capital Conakry in fresh demonstrations days after deadly clashes marred a funeral march for those killed in recent anti-government marches.

The poor West African country has been shaken by deadly clashes during weeks of protest over suspicions that President Alpha Conde is seeking to prolong his rule.

Tensions in the capital are high just days after the deaths of three youths, who the opposition said that they were shot by the security services as they attended a funeral march for 11 people killed in unrest since mid-October.

The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an alliance of opposition groups that is behind the protests, plans further rallies in other parts of the country.

Conde has blamed the protesters for the gunfire and accused the opposition of trying to overthrow the government.

The 81-year-old, whose second term ends this year, launched constitutional consultations in September, saying the former French colony’s basic law “concentrates corporate interests” and needed reform.

According to his adversaries, the president will try to push through an amendment allowing him to seek a third term in the nation of 13 million.

He has neither confirmed nor denied his intention to seek a third term in elections due in 2020.

Opposition parties have also promised to prevent legislative elections in February from taking place.

Conde is a former opposition figure who was jailed under Guinea’s previous authoritarian regimes.

He became the first democratically elected president in 2010. Despite initial hopes of a new political dawn, critics say Conde’s rule has become increasingly authoritarian.

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