Thousands of protesters marched on Burkina Faso's presidential palace after burning the parliament building and ransacking state television offices today, forcing President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend his 27-year rule.
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 Mr Compaore’s brother. Security forces also fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the presidency in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood.
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 motorbikes, said a reporter.
Lawmakers had been due to vote today on a government plan to change the constitution to allow Mr Compaore – who took power in a coup in 1987 – to stand for re-election next year, when he was due to stand down.
Communications minister Alain Edouard Traore later said the government had dropped the proposal to amend a two-term limit on the presidential mandate.
But protesters said they would not stop until Mr 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.
Meanwhile, France has called for calm in the restive African state.
“We deplore the violence that has taken place in and around the National Assembly,” said France’s foreign affairs ministry. “We call for a return to calm and ask all parties to show restraint.”
Mr Compaore is a key ally for former colonial power France, which has thousands of troops fighting al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in the region as well as about 3,600 of its nationals in Burkina Faso.
France also operates a special forces base in Burkina Faso that regularly launches operations in the Sahel-Sahara region.
On Tuesday, Paris said the African Union charter banned constitutional revisions aimed at preventing political change. It said President Francois Hollande had written to Mr Compaore on October 7th outlining that position.
Regional diplomats had feared such a change could set a precedent to other leaders in the region who want to stay in power after their terms come to an end.
Reuters