Niger police fire tear gas at Charlie Hebdo opponents
January 18, 2015
Around 300 opposition supporters gathered for a demonstration outside the capital's parliament building in Niameny on Sunday, but were dispersed with tear gas as they tried to regroup.
The protestors were demonstrating against a ban on protests against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
Seven protestors, including a former government minister, were detained during Sunday's rally, an unnamed police source said.
Niameny's governor put a stop to demonstrations on Friday as violent protests against the cartoon flared and protestors attacked churches, bars and a police station.
Earlier on Sunday, the president's office announced that at least 10 people had been killed during Friday and Saturday's violent protests.
Five people died Saturday in Niamey, President Mahamadou Issoufou said Sunday in a speech to the nation. Another five, he added, died Friday in the township of Zinder follow Muslim prayer services. Those killed, he continued, included four taking refuge in churches and bars which were set alight.
Many Muslims believe that any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is blasphemous.
The caricatures featured in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, its first publication since the January 7 attack on its Paris offices by Islamic extremists.
jlw/sb (Reuters, AFP, AP)