CONAKRY (Reuters) – Riot police in Guinea’s capital Conakry on Wednesday fired tear gas at anti-government protesters who were throwing stones and burning makeshift barricades to show their opposition to the ruling junta.
The unrest is the latest in a string of protests since the government was overthrown in 2021 and replaced with military leaders who have dragged their feet on promises to hand power back to civilians.
A committee of opposition groups, civil society organizations and activists had called for peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday in Conakry and elsewhere.
“Let no one shrink from intimidation and repression,” they said in a joint statement on Tuesday. “We will liberate our country and prevent any attempt to confiscate our democracy and fundamental freedoms.”
Last October, Guinea’s military government proposed a two-year transition to elections, down from a three-year timeline earlier rejected by the regional political and economic bloc, the Economic Community of West African States.
Many remain unappeased. Black smoke from burning tyres filled the air in one Conakry neighbourhood on Wednesday as small groups faced off against police in full riot gear with armoured cars standing by, according to a Reuters witness.
Elsewhere, protesters threw stones at police as white clouds of tear gas drifted across the street.
The scale of the unrest was hard to assess as it was scattered across different opposition strongholds. Small-scale demonstrations also took place in Nzerekore, a town in the south-east, and in the central town of Dabola, local residents told Reuters by phone.
“If it continues like this, it won’t be good. I don’t like demonstrations. We like peace. These demonstrations are really tiring,” said Conakry resident Alassane Diallo.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Previous protests have proved deadly. Organisers reported the deaths of several protesters from gunshot wounds at anti-government demonstrations earlier this year and in 2022.
(Reporting by Souleymane Camara and Saliou Samb; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Edward McAllister, William Maclean)
