Security forces have used rubber bullets and tear
gas to disperse thousands of stone-throwing
people protesting a potential re-election bid by
the president in the Togolese capital Lome.
The sanctioned protests, which were held on
Friday, turned violent after security guards tried
to stop the protesters who deviated from the
route where they planned to hold their gathering,
and marched on parliament buildings in the city
center.
The protesters were calling on the government to
implement term limits which would stop Togo’s
President Faure Gnassingbe from taking office for
a third term in the 2015 presidential election.
According to a witness, two opposition supporters
were injured during the clashes, one of whose ear
was torn off.
Presidential term limits were removed from
Togo’s constitution in 2002.
Lawmakers
considered a bill in early 2014 to reintroduce
them, but members of the president’s party, who
hold a strong majority in the parliament, did not
vote in its favor.
Gnassingbe became president with the army’s
help when his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who
ruled the West African nation for 38 years, died of
a heart attack in 2005.
The Togolese leader resigned under regional
pressure, but he won an election in the following
months and was re-elected for a second term in
2010.
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