At least seven people have been killed during a crackdown on protests in Togo, according to civic rights groups, as demonstrators call for President Faure Gnassingbé to step down and release political prisoners.
The protests, which began on Thursday, turned violent on Friday and Saturday, with security forces firing tear gas and protesters pelting them with stones.
A coalition of Togolese civil rights groups has condemned the “use of disproportionate force against peaceful demonstrators” and called for investigations into the bloody police repression.
The government has denied the deaths were linked to the protests and is threatening legal action against the protest organizers, labeling the demonstrations a “campaign of disinformation and hatred” orchestrated from abroad.
