Anger over Togo’s constitutional changes turned into street battles on Thursday, as protesters clashed with security forces across the capital, Lomé.
The unrest was on the heels of growing opposition to President Faure Gnassingbé’s latest political maneuver, one that critics say paves the way for his indefinite grip on power.
Throughout Lomé, a tense atmosphere gripped the city. Police patrolled key areas while many shops stayed shuttered. In several neighborhoods, demonstrators erected makeshift barricades out of concrete blocks, lit tires ablaze, and hurled objects at the authorities. The Bè neighborhood, a traditional opposition stronghold, saw police disperse crowds with tear gas and arrest approximately 10 individuals, AP reported.
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Reinforcements in military vehicles were dispatched to contain the unrest, which spread as civil society groups and online influencers rallied citizens to join three days of protest, starting June 26. Earlier this month, similar gatherings were suppressed by the government.
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The activist alliance “Hands Off My Constitution” amplified the calls for resistance. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the group demanded urgent action from the president, writing:
“It strongly urges Faure Gnassingbé to immediately and unconditionally release all of the roughly one hundred political prisoners, and to take urgent measures to restore purchasing power to the population.”
They further called for an “unprecedented peaceful demonstration.”
Faure Gnassingbé, in power since 2005 following the death of his father, assumed the newly established role of President of the Council of Ministers in May. The post holds sweeping executive authority, lacks term limits, and allows for indefinite re-election by parliament, a provision opposition lawmakers have slammed as a “constitutional coup.”
Though public protests have been banned in Togo since a 2022 market attack in Lomé turned deadly, the new political developments have reignited fears of democratic backsliding in a region already rattled by military coups and governance crises.
READ ALSO: Togo opposition slams leader’s new role as ‘constitutional coup’ amid power restructuring
