The authorities in Niger said on Sunday that three police officers had been arrested after allegedly assaulting a demonstrator at a violent student protest that left one person dead and forced the closure of Niger’s top university.
Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey was reopened after President Mahamadou Issoufou held talks with student leaders in a bid to defuse the crisis.
The campus had been closed since hundreds of unhappy students joined a demonstration on Monday last week demanding better living and studying conditions.
The protest paralysed traffic as demonstrators set up barricades of tree trunks, blocks of stone and burning tyres, mainly on the right bank of the River Niger where the campus is located.
One protester died after a fall which was not linked to police action, the authorities said, but the students’ union insisted the death was a result of the student having been hit by a police tear gas cannister.
An inquiry has been opened.
National police spokesperson Adily Toro told reporters that the three officers were arrested over another incident involving a protester.
They had “broken the laws and the rules of the republic” and “will answer for their acts before competent courts”, Toro said.
Source: AFP
