At least ten people remain in jail in Niger following days of protests against the country’s anti-COVID-19 measures.
According to the police in the capital city, Niamey, more than 100 people took part in protests this past weekend.
The demonstrators were upset over nighttime curfews and a ban on collective prayers with the holy Muslim month of Ramadan approaching on the weekend.
Residents in several districts of the capital clashed on Sunday with security forces against the confinement measures.
“Organised individuals set about burning tires and attacking private property,” the Niamey regional governor, Issaka Assane Karanta, said on state television Tuesday. “Many neighbourhoods were torched,” he continued.
He said that assailants on motorcycles were seen placing tires and petrol-filled jerrycans around the city adding, “Everything was well planned, well organised.”
According to residents from the working-class district of Lazaret, security forces fired tear gas to disperse worshippers who were gathering to pray at a mosque.
A riot quickly ensued with mainly youthful protestors burning tyres and setting roadblocks, residents said, quoting them as shouting slogans such as “the struggle continues” and “don’t back down.”
A security source told AFP that similar protests had taken place earlier on the outskirts on Niamey.
Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, has officially recorded 20 deaths from among 655 cases of COVID-19 since March 19.
On April 12 the government extended Niamey’s isolation from the rest of the semi-desert country as well as a state of emergency and the curfew. Places of worship and schools are shut.
