20120822
AFP
Togolese authorities fired tear gas Tuesday to disperse a protest by several thousand people in the capital Lome, the latest such move in the volatile build-up to parliamentary polls expected in October.

The streets of the capital were tense after the demonstrators scattered, with some protesters burning tyres and erecting roadblocks.

Later several hundred people sought to rally in Lome's Independence Square, but were blocked by security forces.

One protest organiser said a number of people were detained and injured, but could not provide figures.

The ministry for security and territorial administration later said in a statement read on television that "10 people were slightly injured including a police officer" and several police cars were damaged.

It was the first of three days of planned protests by Let's Save Togo, a coalition of opposition and civil society groups. Organisers said a new march followed by a sit-in at Independence square would go ahead Wednesday.

"Tuesday's march was stopped by the police. We reschedule it," the group's Claude Ameganvi told a private radio station.

Several previous demonstrations have also been dispersed with tear gas.

The protesters had gathered in Lome's Be neighbourhood and planned to march to the major commercial area of Deckon, which the government declared off-limits to demonstrators and where about 100 police officers were deployed.

The tear gas was fired some 10 minutes after the start of the protest.

"We have recorded several injuries and detentions," Let's Save Togo coordinator Zeus Ajavon told journalists. "We haven't come up with a tally for the time being."

Protesters had earlier pledged to complete the march.

"No one will stop us from going to Deckon," Dodji Amou, a taxi driver who was among the protesters, said before the march began. "The country belongs to all of us."

Last week, the west African nation's government banned street demonstrations in commercial centres, setting up a showdown with the coalition, which had already announced the protests.

Some of the opposition are seeking a delay in the polls to let reforms take effect first, while some also want changes to the electoral code passed by parliament to be repealed on the grounds that they were not made properly.

The government says commercial centres were made off-limits because security and public order were difficult to maintain in such areas, but the opposition have denounced the move as a bid to stifle critics.

While the elections are expected to be held in October, no date has been set.

Togo has been run by the same family for more than four decades. Gnassingbe Eyadema ruled the country for 38 years with an iron fist until his death in 2005.

Shortly after his death was announced his son Faure Gnassingbe was installed as president by the army. He has since won elections in 2005 and 2010.