Guinea's security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters in the capital on Monday, witnesses said, marking an escalation in a political crisis in the world's top bauxite exporter. Witnesses said one person was killed and another five wounded by bullets after police and gendarmes tried to block an opposition demonstration.
But thousands had taken to the streets anyway, attacking officers and breaking into the city's stadium. The violence follows months of wrangling between Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea's military ruler who seized power in a 2008 coup, and his rivals. Camara has not ruled out standing in elections, angering opponents and foreign donors alike.
The junta banned a rally the opposition wanted to hold at the September 28 stadium and deployed security forces heavily at strategic locations. However, by 1200 GMT, thousands of people had taken to the streets and violence had erupted.
"The protesters were carrying two people. I think at least one of them was dead," Oumar Camara, a resident of Dixxin neighbourhood, near the stadium, told Reuters. Camara said that the police station in the Belle Vue neighbourhood had been torched by protestors. Another witness, who asked not to be named, said that he had seen five protesters with bullet wounds and the crowds, which were now in their thousands, had broken into the stadium.
Camara seized power after President Lansana Conte died in December 2008. He enjoyed initial support from a population hungry for change after decades of Conte's rule left the mineral-rich nation in disarray. However, increasingly erratic behaviour, including crackdowns on former backers in the military, attacks on mining companies the country is so dependent on and the likelihood he will stand in a poll due in 2010, have fuelled instability.