Togo leader praises police
2005-02-14 11:51
Lome, Togo - Army-installed President Faure Gnassingbe brushed aside international condemnation of his rule and praised the actions of his police force during riots that left at least three protesters dead. Opposition leaders asked for a day of calm so the country's faithful could attend church.
Opposition leaders said the number of protesters killed in Saturday's demonstration had risen to seven. Government officials confirmed three dead.
In the shattered streets where protesters and police clashed on Friday and Saturday, residents heeded the call for calm on Sunday, stepping over the smouldering ruins and attending church, where they heard the clergy appeal for justice and freedom.
Gnassingbe "energetically condemned the demonstrations which have brought innocent people into the streets at the time when the Togo nation was involved in the mourning of the passing away of the father of the nation," a government statement said.
Gnassingbe's father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, died of a heart attack on February 5 after 38 years of oppressive rule.
Instead of following the constitution's provision that the speaker of parliament become interim president until national elections could be held in 60 days, the military had parliament amend the constitution and make Gnassingbe's son the successor.
Authorities also banned all political rallies and demonstrations during an official two-month mourning period.
Gnassingbe said the police's professionalism averted a tragedy. He deplored the demonstrations and what he called "subsequent attempts by the protesters to call for violence, insurrection and acts of civil disobedience."
Opposition leaders said police fired into a crowd on Saturday, killing at least three protesters and wounding dozens of others. Interior Minister Akila Esso-Boko said police fired in the air when protesters surrounded them and tried to take their guns.
"Two persons died on the spot, while another did so in hospital," he said. "Two policemen and one protester were severely injured with a lot of property damaged."
Esso-Boko warned that "those who call for violence, insurrection and civil disobedience must accept responsibility for placing into peril the lives of peaceful citizens" and said they would be prosecuted.
Jean Pierre Fabre, secretary-general of the opposition Union of Forces for Change, said Esso-Boko, who participated in installing Gnassingbe as president, must accept responsibility for creating a situation that sent protesters into the streets. Fabre said the protesters' death toll had risen to seven.
Togo's capital was calm on Sunday. Many Togolese appeared to be following opposition calls that the government be given 24 hours to consider international pressure, spearheaded by its West African neighbours.
The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, has demanded Togo roll back the constitutional changes that legalised Gnassingbe's installation.
- AP