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| A man holds up a sign, which reads: “Faure still how many death by you”, during an opposition protest calling for the immediate resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe in Lome, Togo, September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Noel Kokou Tadegnon |
Togo security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of anti-government protesters carrying out a late night sit-in at an intersection in central Lome as part of a bid to end the 50-year-old Gnassingbe family dynasty, witnesses said on Thursday.
The move to disperse the crowds comes after two days of mass country-wide protests involving tens of thousands of people that have amounted to the biggest challenge to Faure Gnassingbeโs rule since he succeeded his late father 12 years ago.
In the past, security forces have violently suppressed protests, killing at least two people during an opposition march in August and hundreds after the contested election in which Gnassingbe took power in 2005.
But up until late on Thursday, police officers armed with batons had watched passively at protesters wearing the red, pink and orange T-shirts of the opposition, who danced and blew whistles as they wound through the streets of the capital Lome.
It was not immediately clear how the opposition would respond to the security forcesโ intervention with tear gas late on Thursday. The head of the main ANC opposition party, Jean-Pierre Fabre, had earlier pledged to remain seated on the tarmac of the Dekon crossroads until Gnassingbe left power.
โWe want the end of this 50-year-old Gnassingbe regime. Enough is enough,โ Kodjo Amana, a 42-year-old baker, shouted over a chanting crowd earlier in the day.
The protests in the West African country of 8 million people have proceeded despite widespread reports of network outages confirmed by non-governmental organisation Internet Without Borders. Other African incumbents in Gabon and Cameroon have used network cuts to control criticism and suppress protests at sensitive times.
