Guinéenews has two articles (here and here) on rioting in the western mining city of Fria. The city's residents took to the streets to protest against the 'castastrophic state' of the roads and broken promises to improve them. Protesters dislodged big stones and used them to erect barricades on the city's main arteries. The mayor intervened and the situation appeared to calm.
However, Guinéenews reports that the following day, the 'forces of order' invaded two schools (the lycée Cabral and collège Tito) and proceded with what observers described as "excessive force and arbitrary arrests" against students (and teachers) who were in the middle of class. After these incidents, students marched to the center of town were engaged in violent battles by soldiers who'd been sent from Conakry. Shots were fired into the crowd and several were seriously wounded, according to Guinéenews.
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We vacated Fria with armed guards to the safety of Conakry Tuesday 5/12/06 leaving all our belongings at a nearby hotel. We were advise that to enter the City to recover our belongings even with armed police and military would be unwise, therefore we left with just our Passports. Hopefully to return when the protesting stops. I would like to say that indeed the roads are in a terrible state of repair and that the hard working, friendly local people deserve a better deal from all who i think may be exploiting them.
MJ
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