Opposition supporters clash with security forces in Guinea

By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Youths, defying a government ban on demonstrations, clashed with security forces in Guinea's coastal capital Conakry, as opposition leaders called for nationwide protests against the timing of elections. Some erected barricades of logs and burning tyres, others threw stones and fired catapults at security forces who were trying to clear them out with tear gas. Residents in Conakry's Koloma neighbourhood reported hearing gunfire in the early afternoon as police and gendarmes moved back into areas they had been forced out of. "Reinforcements apparently arrived. From my house I can see a big truck of security agents parked nearby. I heard several gunshots. I'm scared," Koloma resident Nenen Barry told Reuters. Government deputy spokesman Moustapha Naite said he did not know who had fired the shots and raised the prospect that gunmen may have infiltrated the protests to escalate the disorder. "The opposition wants to push us to make a mistake, to create a deadly incident. We're not going to oblige them," he said. A separate government statement reported protests, some of them authorised, in a handful of places outside Conakry. It said two civilians had been injured but gave no further details. Guinea's presidential election on Oct. 11, announced by the electoral commission in March, broke a 2013 agreement to stage long-delayed local polls first, the opposition says. Analysts say that holding local polls first would give President Alpha Conde's rivals more influence in organising the presidential election. Opposition figure Mouctar Diallo said police had deployed around the homes of the leading political activists on Monday. "That will not stop our protests from taking place in Conakry and across the country," he said. Weeks of demonstrations have left at least four people dead and many more injured, according to opposition leaders, who say security forces have fired live rounds during clashes. The government says three have died and rejects accusations that shots have been fired at protesters. Authorities say police officers have been shot at during the demonstrations. The governor of Conakry said the opposition had failed to obtain official permission for Monday's protests. A march in the town of Labe, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Conakry, was authorised after opposition members filed an official request. An opposition supporter was beaten to death by police there late last month.