Tensions are rising in Togo as President Faure Gnassingbé’s tightening grip on power fuels backlash from opposition groups and civil society. The latest flashpoint: a wave of arrests and reports of abuse following protests against a recent constitutional change that could allow him to remain in office indefinitely.
The protests erupted late last week in the capital, Lomé, and continued online, prompting a heavy-handed response from security forces. On Tuesday, activists denounced what they described as a brutal clampdown and called for the release of detainees.
“What we know is that several people were beaten during their arrest,” said Aimé Adi, director of Amnesty International’s Togo office, in an interview with the Associated Press.
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A local human rights group reported that around half of the 80 protesters detained had been freed by late Monday, but at least 25 remained in custody. The group urged authorities to immediately release the rest.
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Gnassingbé, who has ruled since inheriting power from his father in 2005, was sworn in last month as President of the Council of Ministers, a new role without term limits and with the potential for endless reappointment by parliament. The change has triggered outrage, with opposition figures calling it a “constitutional coup.”
“What the Togolese now want is the end of this regime which can no longer offer anything to the people after 20 years of absolute and repressive power of Faure Gnassingbé,” declared the political coalition “Hands Off My Constitution.”
Despite a national ban on demonstrations imposed in 2022 after a deadly attack in Lomé’s main market, the controversial constitutional overhaul has reignited calls for democratic reform in a region increasingly vulnerable to authoritarian backsliding.
Togo’s public prosecutor Talaka Mawama defended the arrests, calling the protests “part of a revolt against the institutions of the Republic.”
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