Rally against poverty banned
2005-03-20 17:32
Niamey - A Niger court charged a leader of protests against the rising cost of living with assault on Saturday, while authorities banned further demonstrations planned in the capital next week.
An order seen by AFP said a meeting followed by a march scheduled on Tuesday in Niamey had been forbidden after violence marred a protest in the capital this week.
Those who ignored the ban would be subject to prosecution.
A demonstration was also scheduled on Tuesday in Zinder in southern Niger, the country's second city.
A Niamey court on Saturday charged Nouhou Arzika, head of the Niger Consumers' Organisation (Orconi), one of the organisers of the March 15 march, with violence, assault and complicity in the destruction of public property, his lawyer Souley Oumarou said.
The court ordered the release of Arzika pending trial. The judge also released 15 teenagers, but warned them to be prepared for further questioning.
On Friday, a court had charged 46 people detained after the protest with complicity in vandalism and destruction of public property.
Thousands of people had gathered on Tuesday on the Toumo Plaza in the east of Niamey for a march towards the national assembly, chanting anti-government slogans accusing lawmakers of having betrayed campaign promises to fight poverty.
The march was organised by a "coalition against costly living", which said that since the 19% value added tax was imposed in 2005, prices for utilities, food staples and cooking oil had "savagely increased" beyond the means of most people.
Witnesses said that several hours after the demonstration dispersed peacefully, dozens of young men began looting stores, breaking traffic signals and street lighting, and burning towers of tires in the streets of the capital.
Extreme poverty in Niger afflicts some two-thirds of the vast northwest African state's 11 million people. Clean water and electricity are rare beyond the capital and are luxuries out of reach for all but the urban elite.
The government of President Mamadou Tandja imposed the tax in January as part of the fiscal year 2005 budget to generate greater revenues for the impoverished nation and to conform to "convergence criteria" laid out by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).