Police clash with opposition protesters in Conakry

Violent confrontations between the security forces and demonstrators were witnessed on Tuesday in Bambeto and Costa districts which are strongholds of the Guinean opposition on the periphery of Conakry, said well-placed sources. Following a declaration by the opposition that Tuesday will be "a ghost town day," the youths in the two districts came out in large numbers in the morning to prevent the passage of vehicles toward the city center. The demonstrators barricaded roads and burnt tyres in certain zones to block the travellers from using the roads in these two localities. After having been informed, the security forces who were mainly comprised of the police and the gendarmes were deployed to the scene and used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Sources on the ground told Xinhua that some of the demonstrators were arrested by the police. The call by the opposition to their supporters to observe a "one day ghost town" protest seems not to have been adhered to in the whole of Conakry town. In most public and private places, the workers were present in their offices. In places which strongly support the opposition, shops and service stations were closed and traffic was less intense, and more security forces were deployed to those regions.