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Child shot dead in Cameroon drama Deadly violence rages in Cameroon
(about 7 hours later)
Paramilitary gendarmes have dispersed Cameroonian demonstrators using about 2,000 school children as human shields in Bamenda city in the north-west. The official death toll from violent protests in Cameroon this week has risen to 17 as troops attempt to restore order in the capital, Yaounde.
Thousands of protesters had gone into three boarding schools to escape police pursuing them after violence overnight. Barricades were erected in Yaounde, youths fought police in the port of Douala and three deaths were reported in the north-western town of Bamenda.
They then made the pupils take to the streets to protect them from gendarmes as they attacked a brewery depot. President Paul Biya has accused his political rivals of orchestrating the unrest to depose him.
A BBC reporter says a teenage boy has been shot dead but it not clear if he was with the group of child hostages. The opposition says the rising cost of food and fuel is causing the protests.
There have been days of protests across the country, sparked by a taxi-driver strike over a fuel price rise. President Biya has vowed to use all legal means to end the violence, which the opposition believes may have caused many more deaths than those reported officially.
President Paul Biya has blamed the opposition for violence which has left at least eight dead. What started as a nationwide transport strike in protest at fuel costs has turned into a series of anti-government demonstrations, BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says.
It's a miserable situation and the government has not addressed this SDF's John Fru Ndi Schools targeted
Opposition groups have been calling for protests to stop the constitution being amended to allow Mr Biya to run for re-election when his current term expires in 2011. In Bamenda, mobs of angry young men turned up at boarding schools and demanded that the students join the demonstrators on the streets.
The principal of the Presbyterian Secondary School, Rev Henry Fomuso, said they carried crude weapons like sticks and rocks and held bottles of petrol as they threatened to burn down the school.
After negotiating with the mob, the teachers managed to ensure the girls and young boys were allowed to stay but around 200 teenage boys were taken away, possibly to be used as human shields during confrontations with the police.
This scene was repeated at several boarding schools.
After a few hours most of the students had made it back to the schools or to their parents' homes but not all the children are yet accounted for.
It seems the boarding schools were targeted because they educate the children of the Cameroonian elite and the disgruntled youths, many of whom see little prospect of finding work, wanted to make a point about the inequality that exists in Cameroon, our correspondent says.
One of the dead in Bamenda is believed to be a teenage boy, who was shot dead.
Both Yaounde and Douala were both virtually brought to a standstill on Thursday despite a heavy military deployment.
'No alternative'
On Wednesday night, President Biya appeared on state television and accused the opposition of being behind the violence.
It's a miserable situation and the government has not addressed this John Fru Ndi Opposition politician
Having come to power 25 years ago, he recently introduced the idea of amending the constitution so that he can stand in the next election.
Opposition groups have been calling for protests to stop the amendment happening.
John Fru Ndi of the opposition Social Democratic Front denied being behind the unrest but said he could understand the frustrations felt by Cameroonians because of the high cost of living.John Fru Ndi of the opposition Social Democratic Front denied being behind the unrest but said he could understand the frustrations felt by Cameroonians because of the high cost of living.
"It's a miserable situation and the government has not addressed this," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"The people have no other alternative than to express themselves by marching on the streets to draw government's attention to issues affecting their everyday lives."
Stray bullet
The BBC's Randy Joe Sa'ah in Douala says the protests nationwide are continuing and the trade unions who called the strike, which was called off 24 hours ago, now seem unable to get the people off the streets.
There are plans for Mr Biya to run for president again in 2011There are plans for Mr Biya to run for president again in 2011
Two post offices were razed to the ground overnight in Bamenda by demonstrators who were then chased by police. "The people have no other alternative than to express themselves by marching on the streets," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The protestors went to boarding schools in the city to stop police throwing tear gas canisters at them. Our correspondent adds that Cameroon is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups, and keeping the country relatively stable has been one of the major achievements of President Biya's 25 years in office.
While most schools have been closed all week, boarding school pupils have been unable to get home because transport has been at a standstill, our reporter says.
When the protesters decided to attack a brewery deport, they marched the children with them - but gendarmes dispersed them before they reached their destination.
The children escaped in the confusion and many have gone back to the schools, while some parents have walked into town to collect their children.
A teenage boy from another school was killed by a stray bullet in street demonstrations and his body is now at the Bamenda mortuary, our reporter says.
Barricades
In Douala, there are still no taxis or motorcycles on the streets and all markets are closed.
Our correspondent says people do not seem to have received Mr Biya's comments well - and are angered that he did not address the issue of the cost of living.
Groups of angry youths carrying flags and placards have attempted to block off roads with barricades in the city and are involved in a game of cat and mouse with the police.
Some of the placards call for further price reductions and denounce plans to change the constitution.
In the capital, Yaounde, there is a heavy military deployment and the situation remains tense.
Gendarmes have erected barricades to stop people moving in large groups and as people approach them they make them raise their hands in the air.
The BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says Cameroon is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups, and keeping the country relatively stable has been one of the major achievements of President Biya's 25 years in office.
The violent scenes across the country this week are a sign that the population is becoming increasingly frustrated in what is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa, he says.The violent scenes across the country this week are a sign that the population is becoming increasingly frustrated in what is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa, he says.