/ 11 April 2000

STUDENTS RIOT IN GAMBIA

AT least ten students were killed and many others were injured during violent clashes between police and student protestors in the Gambian capital Banjul, witnesses said. The number of dead could rise, a journalist who visited the Banjul hospital morgue said. The hospital, which has been closed to visitors, has launched an appeal for blood donations. Hundreds of high school students began rioting in the town and surrounding suburbs early on Monday, pillaging houses and vandalising vehicles and government buildings. Police used teargas as angry protestors aimed stones at them. The students, who were joined by other youths, were protesting at the death of a student last month in a fire station. They say the boy was tortured, while an official autopsy concluded he died of natural causes.