SUSTAINED automatic weapons fire broke out near the home of Central African Republic President Ange-Felix Patasse overnight, when uniformed youth militiamen marched on the residence, witnesses said on Monday. Panic spread among residents of Bangui when twice on Sunday evening live or tracer bullets were fired and volleys of teargas grenades unleashed. The shaven-headed youths who demonstrated near Patasse’s residence were members of a militia known as Base Karako, set up to protect the regime during two army rebellions in 1996 and 1997, many witnesses said. Security forces said they arrested several people.
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