1 dead, several injured in gunfire during anti-government protests in Guinea

Conakry, Guinea: One protester was killed and several others shot and wounded as Guinean police battled to control violent demonstrations in the capital Conakry against the regime of President Alpha Conde. Rioting broke out yesterday at around 9:30 am (local time) in several suburbs including Simbaya and Hamdallaye, with protesters throwing stones and setting fire to tyres as the police responded with tear gas. [caption id=“attachment_2108183” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Photo by AP.[/caption] At least seven youths were treated for gunshot wounds, according to the opposition, which had called for the demonstrations against a lack of stability it blames on Conde’s government. The director of Conakry’s Mother and Child clinic, Ibrahima Balde, told AFP that one of those injured later died from his wounds. “A young man by the name of Souleymane Bah, who was shot in the chest, succumbed to his injuries in the early evening,” he told AFP. Earlier, a hospital doctor speaking on condition of anonymity said the security forces had shot three protesters during clashes in Hamdallaye. The medic told AFP two of the protesters sustained leg injuries while a third with a serious stomach wound was dragged several metres by police before being abandoned. “He was quickly rescued by his comrades,” a policeman told AFP. Four other protesters were wounded in the northeastern suburb of Simbaya, witnesses and a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. The government cited police and hospital sources as saying 10 people had been injured, six by gunfire, and that eight people had been arrested. The government denied that the police had fired at protesters, while warning that “individuals currently engaged in acts of vandalism may in no circumstances be treated as peaceful activists”. The statement, from the Department of Security and Civil Protection, added that the head of the army had ordered troops to remain in their barracks. The gunfire could be heard into the mid-afternoon – albeit with lessening intensity – as youths gathered in the streets, according to an AFP correspondent who witnessed panicked residents trying to get home. Guinea’s opposition boycotted parliament in March in protest over the timetable for a presidential election, accusing Conde of using the Ebola epidemic as an excuse to postpone voting. AFP