The government of Guinea on Tuesday confirmed that 10 people had been killed during clashes between security forces and student protesters over the cancellation of school exams.
Spokesperson Moussa Solano said ”the government regrets the incidents and the loss of human life” but blamed opposition parties for ”orchestrating and manipulating” the protests.
Bloody clashes broke across the country on Monday as high school students protested at the cancellation of final exams due to a teachers’ strike.
Seven of the dead, most of them students according to witnesses, were killed in the capital, and three died in the northern town of Labe, about 400km north of Conakry, all from live ammunition fired by the military.
Several others were wounded, various witnesses contacted by Agence France-Presse said, as an indefinite nationwide industrial action called by the country’s largest unions entered a fifth day.
The government of President Lansana Conte last week warned that it would deal ”mercilessly” with any troublemakers during the strike action. — Sapa-AFP