Violence has flared on the streets of Chad
(Picture: Reuters)Hundreds have been injured and 50 killed during anti-government protets in Chad.
Protesters demanding a transition to democratic rule in the central African country took to the streets on Thursday and were met with a crackdown by police and security services who reportedly fired on demonstrators.
Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo branded the incident an “armed insurrection”, but human rights group said that unarmed civilians were massacred by security forces in the capital, N’Djamena, and several other cities.
The crisis was sparked by the death of President Idriss Deby, who spearheaded an authoritarian regime in the country for over three decades.
His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power in the aftermath of his death in April 2021. Deby initially promised an 18-month transition to elections, but on October 1 announced they would be pushed back by two years.
The demonstration was called to mark the date when the military had initially promised to hand over power. Casualties included a local journalist who was shot and died from his injuries.
The Chadian Red Cross said it had deployed 10 teams to provide first aid and taken “dozens” of injured people to hospital.
Succès Masra, the leader of the Transformers party, said from the capital that the death toll was high.
He said: “They killed so many protesters today, my team has been counting them, some of them are in the south, and many here in the capital.”
Enrica Picco, the Central Africa director for the International Crisis Group, said: “We are seeing the military junta holding on to power very tightly [in Chad]. For the moment, civil society and the opposition don’t really have the capacity to overthrow them. We will see more and more repression and that might lead to destabilisation eventually.”
