- Title: IVORY COAST: More protests in Ivory Coast - still no government.
- Date: 10th February 2010
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) POLICEMAN SERGE SEKA KOUAHO, SAYING: "This is where they overpowered me, first they took my bag, they asked for my phone, then they pulled away my bag from me, where I had my gun and my police card and everything I needed, and they left with it."
- Embargoed: 25th February 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8WL5RLF8C2XFVG3WXL2VQKNP5
- Story Text: Tear gas and burning tyres as more violence erupts in cities across Ivory Coast; President Gbagbo refuses to reinstate electoral commission.
Anti-government demonstrators marched through various cities in Ivory Coast on Monday (February 22).
Some were peaceful, but in others there were burning tyres, and police officers and soldiers were pelted with rocks, before driving the protesters back with tear gas.
Demonstrations have erupted almost daily in the world's top cocoa grower since President Laurent Gbagbo dissolved his goverment and the electoral commission on February 12.
The military killed at least five protesters at a rally in the southwestern town of Gagnoa on Friday.
Public anger is gathering steam at years of delays to the election timetable. The polls are meant to draw a line under a bitter 2002-3 war that cut West Africa's former powerhouse in two and brought economic growth to a near standstill.
A group of protesters briefly captured a plain clothes policeman and seized his gun.
Serge Seka Kouaho showed Reuters where he was overpowered. His attackers asked for his phone and took his bag with his gun and police identity card in it, he said.
In Abidjan's northern suburb of Abobo, police dispersed marchers, at least one of whom was wielding a machete, said a Reuters cameraman The opposition has called for mass action to continue until Gbagbo reinstates the electoral commission.
Gbagbo dissolved the commission after accusing its chief Robert Mambe of illegally adding names to the electoral register to boost the opposition vote and Ivory Coast is now certain to miss a March deadline to hold presidential polls that were already four-and-a-half years overdue.
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a rebel during the civil war, had been due to form a government last Saturday. His aides say he's now likely to announce it on Monday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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