Africa > Central Africa > Congo Brazzaville > A man holds a placard reading "Congo is not the property of N'Guesso" during an opposition demonstration in Brazzaville

Congo Brazzaville: A man holds a placard reading "Congo is not the property of N'Guesso" during an opposition demonstration in Brazzaville

2015/10/21

Four people were killed and 10 injured on Tuesday in the Republic of Congo, according to officials, as demonstrators braved a government clampdown and took to the streets to turmoil the president’s bid for a third term in office.

The violence prompted urgent calls for calm from a visiting senior US official and Amnesty International, which described the authorities' handling of the unrest as "heavy handed". Clashes erupted next authorities banned a turmoil rally against next Sunday’s referendum on President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s bid to extend a three-decade remain in office.

The controversial vote proposes increasing the maximum age of presidential candidates, currently 70, and scrapping a policy that limits the maximum number of seven-year terms to two.

Interior Minister Raymond Mboulou told national TV the “organised and coordinated insurrection” had led to three fatalities in the capital Brazzaville and a fourth in the southern town of Pointe-Noire.

Three members of the security forces were as well seriously injured, he added, while 16 arrests were made in Brazzaville.

“The symbols of the republic, such as the police headquarters (or) gendarmerie brigades, were targeted,” he said.

Gatherings banned

“The FRANCE 24 from Brazaville on Tuesday.

“But what’s going to be really significant to see is how united the security forces remain in enforcing Sassou Nguesso’s will,” he said.

A former Marxist soldier, Sassou Nguesso as well ruled Congo from 1979 to 1992.

Under the current constitution, Sassou Nguesso, 72, is not able to run again because of his age and due to the fact that he has by instantly served two seven-year terms.

In the last presidential poll in 2009, he won nearly 79 % of the votes. Half of his 12 rivals boycotted the election.

Tens of thousands of the president’s supporters staged a rally on Saturday in favour of the constitutional changes.

The turnout dwarfed the size of an anti-government demonstration late last month, at the same time as several thousand people poured onto the capital’s streets to turmoil against the president’s plan to cling to power.

They had rallied under the cry “Sassoufit”, a pun on the French expression which means “that’s enough”.

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