Ivory Coast protesters enter U.N. base-officials
Tue 17 Jan 2006 9:23 AM ET
(Updates with quotes, details)
ABIDJAN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators entered a U.N. military base in western Ivory Coast on Tuesday in widespread protests against a call by foreign mediators for parliament to be dissolved, U.N. officials said.
They said the protesters were demonstrating inside the base at Guiglo belonging to Bangladeshi U.N. peacekeeping troops. They were demanding that U.N. peacekeepers leave the country.
"At the BANBAT (Bangladeshi Battalion base) in Guiglo, 2,000 protestors have got in, but apparently they are peaceful," a U.N. military officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters
"They are demanding that the U.N. leaves," he added.
In Abidjan, U.N. spokeswoman Margherita Amodeo said about 1,000 demonstrators had got into the base, but she had no reports of any violence.
Young supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo had rioted on Monday in Abidjan, the economic capital of the world's top cocoa grower, demanding that an international working group reverse its call for the parliament mandate not to be renewed.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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