Coup d'état in Burkina Faso: tear gas fired from the French embassy

Tear gas grenades were fired from inside the French embassy in Ouagadougou on Sunday to disperse protesters supporting the self-proclaimed putschist Ibrahim Traoré, an AFP journalist noted.

A few dozen demonstrators had gathered in front of the embassy, ​​setting fire to protective barriers and throwing stones inside the building, on the roof of which French soldiers were positioned, when the gas was fired.

Other protesters were also seen tearing down barbed wire in an attempt to scale the perimeter wall of the diplomatic building.

Late Saturday afternoon, two French institutions had been targeted by demonstrators: a fire had already broken out in front of the French embassy in Ouagadougou and another in front of the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso.

In Paris, the Quai d'Orsay had condemned "the violence against our embassy with the greatest firmness", adding that "the safety of (his) compatriots" was his "priority".

These attacks "are the act of hostile demonstrators, manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us", declared his spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre, "calling on the stakeholders to ensure the security" of diplomatic buildings.

#BurkinaFaso |

France formally denies any involvement in the events underway since yesterday in Burkina Faso.

The camp where the French forces are located has never hosted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, nor has our embassy.

#Infox pic.twitter.com/pkHSbWyUlR

— France Diplomacy🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) October 1, 2022

Sunday, demonstrators also gathered near the headquarters of the national television of Burkina Faso around which the armored device in place since Friday, was lightened, with three vehicles, instead of twenty.

Rallies took place during the night from Saturday to Sunday on several major axes of the Burkinabe capital, flown over all night by a military helicopter.

Damiba does not want to abdicate

Since the announcement Friday evening by soldiers led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré of the dismissal of the head of Burkina's military junta, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Damiba - himself who came to power by a coup in January - , tension persists in Ouagadougou.

On Saturday, Colonel Damiba made it clear that he did not intend to abdicate, calling on the new putschists "to come to their senses to avoid a fratricidal war which Burkina Faso does not need in this context".

Colonel Damiba came to power in January in a coup that overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, discredited by rising jihadist violence.

But in recent months, attacks hitting dozens of civilians and soldiers have multiplied in the north and east of Burkina Faso, where cities are now subject to a blockade by jihadists.