Several thousand people demonstrated peacefully in Niger’s capital on Thursday in a new protest called by a coalition of civic rights groups against the cost of key services in the country.
After a rally outside the Parliament, the protestors marched to Nelson Mandela Square, near the presidency, where they handed a petition to two aides of President Mamadou Tandja.
Such protests, aimed at bringing the impoverished West African country to a halt, have become weekly events since June 15. As on previous occasions, public transport was off the streets of the capital and the main markets were closed.
While banks, insurance companies and major private firms continued to operate, most government offices and health services were affected to some degree, local journalists reported.
The government, which dismissed the earlier protests as ineffective, took a harder line late on Wednesday, with Interior Minister Mounkaila Modi warning on television against any attempt to stop citizens going about their business.
The authorities also dispatched ministers to various parts of the country last weekend to advise inhabitants of the “negative consequences” of strikes for the country.
Trade Minister Habi Mahaman Salissou said they caused “enormous losses to the state and private companies”.
The protesters condemn “the excessive rise in the price of fuel, the soaring cost of living, the commercialisation of basic social services and endemic unemployment”.
But utilities such as power and water companies have denied the charges and say demands for cuts in tariffs are unrealistic.
In 2005 the coalition successfully organised waves of protests against a law on the introduction of a 19% value-added tax.
The protests paralysed Niger for a month, forcing the government to drop the finance law and to accept 10% pay rises for about 40 000 government workers. — AFP