Burundi: Police Break Up Bayaganakandi Meeting

Police on Tuesday broke up a meeting of parties supporting the presidential candidacy of Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi, the Tutsi rival of President Pierre Buyoya, the private Netpress news agency reported. Participants were told to leave the meeting hall in Bujumbura's Kinindo district, but party leaders were ordered to remain behind. They were allowed to leave more than two hours later after the compound was surrounded by gendarmes. Bayaganakandi said he could not understand why the parties that supported him did not have the right to meet. "It appears the gendarmes wanted to stop the meeting because they suspected the participants were planning a demonstration against the increase of prices," Netpress said.

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