In a show of strength, police officers in Togo deployed in large numbers across the capital Lome on Friday, putting an end to a rare demonstration against the government.
President Faure Gnassingbe has led Togo since 2005, succeeding his father who ruled for nearly four decades.
Young people and civil society activists had called for Friday’s protests on social media to denounce the arrest of critical voices, fuel price hikes and a recent constitutional reform that critics say is just a means for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power.
On Friday morning, police dispersed a few dozen protesters with tear gas in different parts of the capital, particularly near the president’s office.
Journalists covering the protests were briefly detained and forced by security forces to erase their images.
Calls for protests grew louder Thursday following the reappearance of Aamron, a popular Togolese rapper and loud critic of Gnassingbe’s rule, ten days after his arrest at home.
Hours before his arrest, Aamron had joined others in calling for Friday’s protests.
He spent over a week in detention and has since been transferred to a psychiatric centre in Zebe, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Lome, for what was described as “severe depression”, sparking outrage from opposition groups and civil society who denounced a crackdown on dissent.
Another activist, Honore Sitsope Sokpor — known online as “Affectio” — has been jailed since January over a poem he published on social media.
The government said Friday that, under Togolese law, publishing audiovisual messages “calling for a popular uprising against the institutions of the Republic” is considered an “aggravating circumstance”.
