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| Burkina Faso Parliament Ablaze: Revolution underway in Burkina Faso: Burkinabe protesters set Parliament and Ruling Party HQ ablaze. Compaore brother arrested at the airport |
Voice of the people is resounding in Burkina Faso! Protesters takes over National TV station, and government buildings. Government has capitulated and cancels planned vote to extend President Blaise Compaore regime. The protesters are marched on to Burkina Faso's presidential palace after burning the parliament building and ransacking state television offices on Thursday, forcing President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend his 27-year rule. Reuters reports that Compaore's brother has been arrested trying to flee the country.
Thousands of protesters stormed Burkina Faso’s parliament Thursday before setting it ablaze, witnesses said, forcing the government to cancel a controversial vote on revising the constitution to allow the country’s president to stand for re-election.
Black smoke swirled in the air around parliament after demonstrators lit fires inside the building in the capital Ouagadougou, before looting computers and televisions screens and wheeling away police motorbikes, a Reuters reporter said.
The crowd then headed towards the presidency as a government helicopter flew overhead, shooting teargas at protesters. There were reports of gunfire coming from near the presidential palace.
Protesters also stormed and ransacked the building of the country's state television network, which went off air shortly afterwards, Reuters reported.
A handful of soldiers who were guarding the building shot in the air to try to disperse the crowds, but they continued advancing and the soldiers fled, a witness said.
Earlier, police had fired teargas and beat and arrested protesters as they tried to reach parliament, a Reuters photographer said. Hundreds of protesters burned tyres and set up makeshift barricades in response.
Officers in pick-ups pursued opposition supporters and cordoned off the area around the building.
But the protesters regrouped in larger numbers before surging past police lines, the AP news agency reported.
Emergency services said at least three protesters were shot dead and several others wounded by security forces when the crowd tried to storm the home of Compaore's brother. Security forces also fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the presidency in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood.
Black smoke swirled in the air above parliament after demonstrators lit fires inside the building before looting computers and televisions screens and wheeling away police motor-bikes, a Reuters reporter said.
Officers in pick-ups pursued opposition supporters and cordoned off the area around the building.
But the protesters regrouped in larger numbers before surging past police lines, the AP news agency reported.
Emergency services said at least three protesters were shot dead and several others wounded by security forces when the crowd tried to storm the home of Compaore's brother. Security forces also fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the presidency in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood.
Black smoke swirled in the air above parliament after demonstrators lit fires inside the building before looting computers and televisions screens and wheeling away police motor-bikes, a Reuters reporter said.
The demonstrations had been sparked by a planned vote by lawmakers Thursday morning on a government plan to revise the constitution to allow President Blaise Compaore stand for re-election next year, when he was due to stand down.
The proposal has deeply divided Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest nations and which has positioned itself as a mediator in regional crises.
It has also drawn criticism from former colonial power France and from the United States, allies of the Burkinabe government in operations against al Qaeda-linked groups in West Africa.
A government spokesperson said Thursday that the vote will now not go ahead.
But protesters told Reuters they would not stop until Compaore was forced to step aside. Burkinabe officials said there were also large-scale protests in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina's second biggest town, and Ouahigouya, to the north."We did this because Blaise was trying to stay too long. We are tired of him," said Seydou Kabre, a protester in the crowd in Ouagadougou. "We want a change. He must go!"
The proposal has deeply divided Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest nations and which has positioned itself as a mediator in regional crises.
It has also drawn criticism from former colonial power France and from the United States, allies of the Burkinabe government in operations against al Qaeda-linked groups in West Africa.
A government spokesperson said Thursday that the vote will now not go ahead.
But protesters told Reuters they would not stop until Compaore was forced to step aside. Burkinabe officials said there were also large-scale protests in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina's second biggest town, and Ouahigouya, to the north."We did this because Blaise was trying to stay too long. We are tired of him," said Seydou Kabre, a protester in the crowd in Ouagadougou. "We want a change. He must go!"
Compaore has been in power since 1987, ruling the cotton and gold-producing nation with a generally firm grip. However, in recent years, he has faced increasing criticism, including from within his own camp and the military.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Ouagadougou and other towns across the country on Tuesday in what the opposition said was the start of a campaign of civil disobedience over the proposed constitutional reform.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Ouagadougou and other towns across the country on Tuesday in what the opposition said was the start of a campaign of civil disobedience over the proposed constitutional reform.
Opposition leader Zephirin Diabre said on his Twitter feed he was opposed to any coup in Burkina Faso just hours after he had urged armed forces to join the people in a speech broadcast live from his headquarters.
Local radio and a diplomatic source said opposition leaders held talks with an influential army General Kouame Lougue about a possible transition. The same diplomatic source said members of Compaore's government had been arrested at the airport trying to leave the country.
A Reuters witness said protesters took one of the dead bodies from the streets and wrapped it in the national flag, while softly singing Burkina's anthem. They then drove it to the central Place de la Nation, where more protesters had gathered.
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