Comoros safety forces responded Wednesday with tear gasoline and arrests after teams indignant over the re-election of President Azali Assoumani tried to dam roads within the capital.
Particles and burning tires littered a number of streets of Moroni and the Indian Ocean archipelago's largest road market lay abandoned the morning after the disputed polls have been introduced.
Chatting with AFP, authorities spokesman Houmed Msaidie accused the opposition – which has labeled the election victory of former army ruler Assoumani as fraud – of organizing the protests.
'Arrests have been made, however I can’t provide you with any figures right now. It’s utterly regular if there are individuals who need to disrupt public order,” mentioned Msaidie.
There have been no studies of lethal violence, however the Comoros – a sequence of three islands house to about 870,000 individuals – is politically unstable and has seen 20 coups or tried coups in its quick historical past since independence in 1975.
Police, gendarmes and armed troopers have been deployed in massive numbers in the beginning of the day. They used tear gasoline to drive civilians off the streets and again to their houses.
Within the working-class Coulee district within the north of the town, teams of youth threw stones at troops, however many residents ready to flee in anticipation of additional tensions.
“Everyone seems to be gone. I’m going as properly. I obtained tear gassed,” mentioned Amina, a stall proprietor on the usually busy Volo-Volo market, which is now simply rows of empty wood stalls.
In keeping with official outcomes launched on Tuesday, Assoumani, a 65-year-old former coup chief turned civilian president, was re-elected in Sunday's first spherical of elections with 62.97 p.c.
However official turnout was an unexpectedly low 16 p.c, and supporters of the 5 defeated opposition candidates have cried foul about poll fraud and fraud.
