By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinean soldiers fired live rounds at students rioting in the eastern town of Nzerekore on Monday, witnesses said, as protests over suspended exams spread across the West African country amid a tense general strike. The witnesses said police fired tear gas and soldiers shot live bullets at students who attacked administrative buildings and vehicles in the town, some 970 km (600 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry. It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been killed or injured. "Students began to mock the police after it became clear the adjudicators for the exams had not turned up. There was a scuffle and that turned into a riot," one witness told Reuters by telephone, asking not to be identified. A worker with a local non-governmental organisation said security forces had violently attacked some students in the protest, which came as demonstrations erupted in Conakry over the exam postponement. Students shouting "Down with the government" ransacked local education offices and rampaged through the streets of the Conakry suburb of Matoto, an opposition stronghold, despite police efforts to contain them, witnesses said. The general strike, which began on Thursday, was the latest action by unions leading opposition to President Lansana Conte's disastrous economic management in mineral-rich Guinea. Guinea is struggling with rampant corruption, a collapsing economy and a powerful but fractious military. Analysts fear a dangerous power vacuum if Conte -- a diabetic in his 70s -- were to die.
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