People barricaded streets and burned tires for a second day Thursday in the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros after the incumbent president was declared the winner following an election earlier this month denounced by the country’s opposition parties as fraudulent, Report informs via AP.
Some protesters tore down a poster of President Azali Assoumani, who was declared the winner of last weekend’s presidential balloting, with more than 60% of the votes in his favor.
Tuesday’s declaration triggered violent protests the following day when a government minister’s house was set on fire and a car at the home of another minister was burned. People also vandalized a national food depot. Several roads in and around the capital, Moroni, were barricaded by protesters.
The government ordered a curfew on Wednesday night, until 6 am Thursday.
Assoumani, 65, was reelected for a fourth term with 62.97% of the vote after changing the constitution in 2018 to allow him to sidestep term limits. He has been accused of cracking down on dissent and previously banned protests. He currently chairs the African Union, where his one-year largely ceremonial term is to end next month.
