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Protesters set fire to Burkina Faso’s parliament Ministers flee as Burkina Faso’s national assembly building burns
(about 2 hours later)
Demonstrators have set the Burkina Faso parliament on fire in a surge of violence has that forced the government to scrap a vote on plans to allow President Blaise Compaoré to extend his 27-year rule. One of Africa’s longest-serving rulers appeared to be losing his grip on power on Thursday as angry protesters rampaged in Burkina Faso, storming the parliament and other official buildings, ransacking offices and setting them ablaze.
The United States and former colonial power France voiced alarm over the unrest in the west African nation and appealed for calm. At least three people were reported dead in the protests that forced the west African nation to scrap a vote on controversial plans to allow president Blaise Compaoré to extend his 27-year rule. The question is whether Compaoré can survive the coming hours and days.
Hundreds of people broke through a heavy security cordon and stormed the National Assembly building in the capital Ouagadougou, ransacking offices and setting fire to cars, before attacking the national television headquarters and moving on the presidential palace. One man was reportedly killed. “October 30 is Burkina Faso’s Black Spring, like the Arab Spring,” Emile Pargui Pare, an official from the opposition Movement of People for Progress, told Agence France-Presse.
Lawmakers were due to vote on the legislation that would allow Compaoré – who took power in a 1987 coup – to contest next year’s election. The government, facing its worst crisis since a wave of mutinies shook the country in 2011, later announced it was calling off the vote but it was not immediately clear if this was a temporary move. A huge crowd converged on the main square in Ouagadougou, the capital, and began marching towards Compaoré’s presidential palace, according to the BBC. Security forces reportedly fired live rounds and tear gas at protesters near the palace. Compaoré’s whereabouts were unknown, though he appealed for calm on Twitter.
Black smoke billowed out of smashed windows at the parliament building, where several offices were ravaged by flames, including the speaker’s office, although the main chamber so far appeared to be unscathed. Reuters reported that local radio and a diplomatic source said opposition leaders held talks with influential army General Kouame Lougue about a possible transition. The same diplomatic source said members of Compaoré’s government had been arrested at the airport trying to leave the country.
Several hundred protesters also broke into the headquarters of the national television station RTB, the correspondents said. Compaoré was 36 when he seized power in the coup in which Thomas Sankara, his former friend and one of Africa’s most revered leaders, was ousted and assassinated. He is a staunch ally of the US and France but was also notoriously close to Muammar Gaddafi, former Libyan leader, and ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor.
Crowds of people later massed near the presidential palace but were being held back by troops from the presidential guard who fired warning shots into the air. Months of tension in one of the world’s poorest countries erupted on Thursday when about 1,500 people broke through a heavy security cordon, laying siege to the parliament building in Ouagadougou despite police firing warning shots in the air.
The ruling party headquarters in the second city of Bobo Dioulasso and the city hall were also set alight by protesters, witnesses said. Many MPs fled to a nearby hotel. Ablasse Ouedraogo, an opposition member, told the Associated Press: “I was inside when the demonstrators stormed in. I was put in secure place by security people of the parliament. Now it is difficult to say what happens next but things are out of control because the demonstrators do not listen to anyone.”
“The president must deal with the consequences,” said Benewende Sankara, one of the leaders of the opposition, which had called for the people to march on parliament over the Compaoré law. Black smoke poured out of shattered windows and several offices succumbed to flames, including the speaker’s office, although the main chamber appeared to be unscathed. Protesters looted computers and televisions and wheeled away police motorbikes.
The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about the crisis and criticised the attempts to alter the constitution, while France appealed for calm and said it “deplored” the violence. The city hall and ruling party headquarters were also reportedly in flames and houses belonging to government ministers were attacked. Demonstrators ransacked the state television headquarters, pillaging equipment and smashing cars and forcing it off the air.
The European Union had also urged the government to scrap the legislation, warning it could “jeopardise ... stability, equitable development and democratic progress”. 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 Compaoré’s brother. A Reuters witness said protesters took one of the dead bodies from the streets and wrapped it in the national flag, while softly singing the national anthem. They then drove it to the central Place de la Nation, where more protesters had gathered.
Several thousand protesters marched through the capital on Wednesday, the day after street battles erupted during a mass rally by hundreds of thousands against what they branded a constitutional coup by supporters of the 63-year-old strongman. Benewende Sankara, one of the leaders of the opposition which had called for the people to march on parliament over the Compaoré law, told AFP: “The president must deal with the consequences.”
The ruling party headquarters in Burkina Faso’s second city of Bobo Dioulasso and city hall was also torched by demonstrators, according to witnesses.
Alain Edouard Traore, communications minister, 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 Compaoré was forced to step down. “We did this because Blaise was trying to stay too long,” Seydou Kabre, a protester in the crowd in Ouagadougou, told Reuters. “We are tired of him. We want a change. He must go!”
George Sawadogo, a 23-year-old student, added: “If needs be, we are going to march to the presidency. We want Blaise Compaoré to leave. We want change.”
The parliament had been due to examine a proposed amendment that would allow Compaoré to run for re-election in November next year. The opposition fears the planned new rules would enable Compaoré to seek re-election three more times, paving the way for up to 15 more years in power.
Protesters have erected barricades and burned tyres in the capital since the proposal was announced on 21 October.
Burkina Faso is a key US ally in west Africa against fighters linked to al-Qaida operating in the Sahel region. France, the former colonial power, has special forces troops based in the country.
The White House said on Thursday that was “deeply concerned” about the developing crisis and criticised the bid to alter the constitution. “We believe democratic institutions are strengthened when established rules are adhered to with consistency.”
A French foreign ministry spokesman said: “We deplore the violence that has taken place in and around the national assembly. We call for a return to calm and ask all parties to show restraint.”
Compaoré’s bid to cling to power has infuriated the opposition and much of the public, including many young people in a country where 60% of the population of almost 17 million is under 25. Many have spent their entire lives under the leadership of one man.
Known in colonial times as Upper Volta, the landlocked country became independent from France in 1960 and its name was changed to Burkina Faso (“the land of upright men”) in 1984. The government was rocked by a wave of protests in 2011.