Guinea political coalition announces demonstrations

By AFP

Guinea’s ruling junta seized power in a coup in September

An influential Guinean political coalition Thursday called for renewed demonstrations against the ruling junta despite an ongoing protest ban, a day after regional mediators met with junta leaders over a return to civilian rule.

The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) accused the junta, which seized power in a coup in September 2021, of “contempt and arrogance” and “unilateral management of the transition” process.

The coalition said it would organise “peaceful citizen demonstrations” in the capital Conakry on July 28 and nationwide on August 4, claiming the junta was “systematically refusing” to establish a “credible dialogue”.

It said the demonstrations would denounce the “lack of a framework for dialogue” between the military leaders and political and civil society, as well as the “confiscation of citizens’ rights and freedoms”, such as the right to protest.

The junta in May banned any public demonstrations that could be construed as threatening public order.

The FNDC had called protests for June 23 but later called them off, indicating they were prepared to give the transitional government a “chance” to set a proposed dialogue in motion.

However, their patience snapped after a meeting with the authorities, which the FNDC slammed as a “parody”.

The coalition said the upcoming demonstrations would protest the military government’s refusal to publish the list of its members and declare their assets, and the “instrumentalisation of justice by the junta to humiliate and harass the leaders of civil society and political parties”.

Read more of this report

Visited 171 times, 1 visit(s) today

Comments are closed.