Burkina Faso parliament set ablaze Skip to main content

Burkina Faso parliament set ablaze

Protesters angry at plans to allow Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year-rule have set fire to parliament.
Correspondents say the city hall and ruling party headquarters are also in flames.
A huge crowd is surging towards the presidential palace and the main airport has been shut.
MPs have suspended a vote on changing the constitution to allow Mr Compaore to stand for re-election next year.
Five people have been killed in the protests, among the most serious against Mr Compaore's rule, reports BBC Afrique's Yacouba Ouedraogo from the capital.
The military had earlier fired live bullets at protesters who had stormed parliament, he says.
Map showing Burkina Faso
Dozens of soldiers have reportedly joined the protests, including a former defence minister, General Kouame Lougue.
The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, has called on the military to side with "the people".
State TV off air Mr Compaore's whereabouts are unknown, but he has appealed for calm via Twitter.
He first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.
line
Eyewitness Joost Laane told BBC Focus on Africa: I am in an area where many MPs live - and I have seen two of their homes set ablaze and smoke coming out of another two or three homes. Hotel Azalai, one of the main hotels in the city, is also on fire.
Two helicopters flew over my house - the president's and a normal helicopter. I cannot confirm whether the president was in one of them.
No-one knows what is going to happen next. It is chaotic and tense. We hear sporadic gunfire.
There is no TV anymore. So we are depending on internet access and phone calls. The 3G network and the texting system are blocked.
line
The opposition has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that he steps down in elections next year.
"October 30 is Burkina Faso's Black Spring, like the Arab Spring," opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told AFP news agency.
Burkina Faso's parliament on fire (30 October 2014) Demonstrators breached the security around parliament and set it on fire
A man stands in front of a burning car, near the Burkina Faso's Parliament where demonstrators set fire to parked cars - 30 October 2014, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Cars were also set ablaze near parliament
Men shout slogans in front of burning cars, near the Burkina Faso's parliament - 30 October 2014,  Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso The protesters do not want Mr Compaore to change the constitution to extend his rule
Burkina Faso troops try to disperse protesters in Ouagadougou on 30 October 2014 The defence forces have been trying to disperse the protesters
State television has gone off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it, Reuters quotes a witness as saying.
About 1,500 people breached the security cordon at parliament, AFP reports.
Protesters were setting fire to documents and stealing computer equipment and cars outside the building were also set on fire, it reports.

  • Served under President Thomas Sankara as minister of state to the presidency
  • Took power after Sankara was killed in mysterious circumstances by a group of soldiers in 1987
  • First elected president in 1991 and again in 1998
  • A new constitution in 2000 limited presidents to two term limits in office and limited the term to five years
  • Won two further terms
  • Protests at attempts to amend the term limits began a year ago, fuelled by the high cost of living
line
A massive crowd has also converged on the main square in Ouagadougou, and are marching towards the presidential palace, which is about 5km (three miles) away, our reporter says.
A government helicopter flying overhead was firing tear gas at them, Reuters reports.
There are also reports of protests in the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso.
The government has been forced to suspend Thursday's parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Mr Compaore could run for office again in 2015.
It is not clear whether the government intends to hold the vote at a later stage, correspondents say.
Mr Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.
Both France and the European Union (EU) have called on him to scrap the proposed constitutional amendment.
The EU said it could jeopardise Burkina Faso's stability. The US has also raised concern about the proposed amendment.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29831262

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do