BOBO-DIOULASSO, Burkina Faso (AFP) — More than 100 people have been arrested in Burkina Faso's second city after a protest against rising living costs ended in violent clashes, the interior minister said Thursday.
The clashes in one of Africa's most impoverished nations left one protestor "seriously injured", according to Clement Pegwende Sawadogo, whilst roads and service stations were trashed, he said.
The demonstration and arrests in Bobo-Dioulasso on Wednesday sparked similar protests in other Burkina towns, including Banfora and Ouahigouya, on Thursday and looked set to continue Friday, witnesses told AFP.
"More than 100 people have been arrested since yesterday (Wednesday) ... It is a situation we have never seen before in the history of this city," Sawadogo said.
The Security Minister, Colonel Assane Sawadogo, said that members of the armed forces had also been injured in the clashes, but he did not have a figure as yet.
By Thursday evening tensions remained strong in Bobo-Dioulasso, with banks, shops and the main market closed.
Hundreds of youths burned tires on the main public highway, whilst others threw stones at government vehicles -- including those of the ministerial cortege.
North of the city, the town hall in the Do area had been ransacked, and all documents destroyed, said Mayor Moustapha Tinto.
A total of three ministers traveled to Burkina's second city to meet with business leaders at the chamber of commerce and see for themselves the damage.
The injured demonstrator was taken to a local hospital to undergo scans, Sawadogo added.
He said subsequent protests had been less violent than Wednesday thanks to the security forces.
"The protests were less strong today (Thursday) because the security forces were on the front foot, and took certain sensible precautions, and mobile units are cracking down on the actions of the demonstrators," he said.
Certain essential goods rocketed in price by nearly 65 percent in January, according to civil society groups, who had already called on the government to take emergency measures to curb price rises.
For its part, the government accused merchants and traders of fraud in their customs returns.
Jean Baptiste Compaore, the economics and finance minister, who also visited Bobo-Dioulasso, said the government had not increased any taxes and that steep price rises were not unique to Burkina Faso.
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