tear gas - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Police fire tear gas on Indian farmers marching to capital, government offers talks

INDIAN farmers demanding higher prices for their produce paused their protest after the government made a new offer to resume talks, hours after police fired tear gas and used water cannons to scatter thousands staging a march to Delhi. The farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been demanding higher prices backed by law for their crops. They form an influential bloc of voters Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot afford to anger ahead of general elections due by May. Farmers' leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters they would pause their protest for two days and deliberate their next…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Tax-hike protesters clash with Kenyan police, two shot dead

NEWS

STONE-THROWING demonstrators clashed with police and two were shot dead, officers on the scene said, in anti-tax protests in cities and towns around Kenya called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. Police fired tear gas to disperse protests in the capital Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and several other towns, according to Reuters reporters and footage aired on Kenyan television stations. Some of the most intense clashes took place on the expressway linking Nairobi to its international airport, where protesters lit fires and pulled down the flower boxes that usually line the road to use as barricades. Police officers patrolling…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenyan police fire tear gas at protesters marching against finance bill

NEWS

KENYAN police fired tear gas at hundreds of people protesting near parliament against a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel and housing. President William Ruto, who won elections in August on a platform of helping the poor, is under pressure to raise revenues in East Africa's economic powerhouse in the face of rising government debt repayments. But his proposals have drawn sharp criticism from civil servants and political opponents, who say that the cost of living is already too high. Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters who marched to parliament to present a petition…

May

2023

By BATE FELIX and NGOUDA DIONE

Senegal unrest flares again over opposition leader

NEWS

DOZENS of protesters clashed with security forces in Senegal's capital, Dakar, after lawmakers and supporters were blocked from visiting the home of a prominent opposition politician on trial for rape and libel. Police fired tear gas on demonstrators who built makeshift barricades along one of Dakar's main highways and in one neighbourhood set cars and a ministerial building on fire. It is the latest round in months of unrest triggered by President Macky Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term in office and by court cases involving a leading rival, Ousmane Sonko, who denies wrongdoing and says…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenya opposition says it suspends protests after agreement with government

NEWS

KENYA'S opposition said they had suspended the latest anti-government protests planned after reaching an agreement with the government of President William Ruto. In a statement, the opposition Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) alliance, led by veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga, said its leadership had met and "agreed to once more suspend the mass protests that we had earlier scheduled to continue tomorrow." The decision to suspend the protests was taken after Ruto's ruling Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) alliance agreed "to one of our demands," according to the statement. The opposition did not provide details of the agreement. On Monday…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegalese police fire tear gas as Dakar braces for more protests

NEWS

DIADIE BA and BATE FELIX SENEGAL'S security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse opposition supporters who attempted to gather in the capital Dakar for the first of three days of planned opposition protests over a libel trial of one of its leaders. Shops and banks closed early on Wednesday as the West African nation braced for fresh protests over a court case that has fuelled tension and violence ahead of presidential elections next year. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is due in court on Thursday for a hearing in a libel case brought by the tourism minister, who…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegal rocked by more unrest as police quell protests

NEWS

BATE FELIX and NGOUDA DIONE POLICE fired tear gas at stone-hurling protesters in Senegal's capital ahead of a court case involving a prominent opposition politician that has triggered anger among youth. Demonstrators in Dakar burned tyres and set fire to buses and a large supermarket, the latest outbreak of violence has shaken Senegal's reputation as a bastion of stable democracy ahead of next year's presidential election. Thursday's clashes began when supporters of presidential hopeful Ousmane Sonko were blocked from accompanying his motorcade to a courthouse where he faces trial for libel. The trial was postponed until March 30 after Sonko's…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Pakistan police postpone arrest of ex-PM Imran Khan until Thursday, easing unrest

WORLD

MUBASHER BUKHARI A Pakistan court ordered police to halt an operation to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan, bringing an end to clashes with supporters of the former cricketer outside his home in which police fired water cannons and tear gas. Security forces withdrew from around the house in the eastern city of Lahore, easing political instability in the nuclear-armed nation which is struggling with an economic crisis and awaiting an International Monetary Fund bailout. The Lahore high court ordered police to postpone the arrest of Khan until Thursday, provincial information minister Amir Mir told Reuters. Earlier, a senior police official said…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Guinea protests leave at least two killed, many wounded, opposition says

NEWS

SAMB SALIOU AT least two people were shot dead and scores wounded or detained at an anti-government protest in Guinea's capital Conakry that started late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday, an opposition coalition said. This time demonstrators erected roadblocks in several locations in Conakry and threw stones at security vehicles, Chief of Police Abdoulaye Sampil said in a statement that made no mention of civilian casualties. He said seven members of the security forces were wounded. A senior police official later said one protester was wounded. But the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Police beat journalist, fire tear gas during Congo election protest

MEDIA FREEDOM

POLICE beat a journalist and fired tear gas to disperse a small crowd in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa during an opposition protest over alleged election meddling, eyewitnesses said. Around 20 protesters gathered in response to a call by opposition leader Martin Fayulu and were met with stiff resistance from police. Police beat and temporarily detained Patient Ligodi, a journalist working for Radio France International, while he was interviewing Fayulu. "They threw me to the ground and started to hit me," Ligodi said in a video shared on social media. Video shot by broadcaster France 24 showed Ligodi being…