Скачать или смотреть Clashes break out in Togo's capital as protesters call for the president's resignation

(26 Jun 2025)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lome, Togo - 26 June 2025
1. Protesters on street, fire burning, police advance in distance
2. Police shooting tear gas at protesters
3. Protesters throwing projectiles at police
4. SOUNDBITE (Ewe) Kodjo, protester:
“All we want is for Faure Gnassingbé to step down. We’ll keep protesting even after the three days, until he finally leaves power.”
5. SOUNDBITE: (Ewe) Kwami, protester:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“He should step aside and let someone else lead. You can’t keep ruling us by force forever. Let someone else prove what they can do.”
6. Wide of protesters in street, fire burning
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Elom, protester:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Faure, please, set Togo free. This country doesn’t belong to you, or to the Gnassingbé family. Just let go of the country. We, the citizens, will lead the country.”
8. Police and gendarmerie on the street
STORYLINE:
Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in Togo's capital Lomé on Thursday, as President Faure Gnassingbé faced increasing pressure from critics over recent changes in the constitution that could effectively keep him in power indefinitely.

A heavy police presence could be seen throughout the capital, where many businesses remained closed.

Hundreds of protesters set up concrete block barricades in several neighborhoods of the city, with some burning tyres and throwing projectiles at security forces.

Protesters called for Gnassingbé to step down.

Civil society groups and social media influencers had called for protests on June 26, 27, and 28, after the government's clampdown on protests early this month.

A coalition of political groups known as “Hands Off My Constitution” said in a Facebook post on Wednesday it "strongly urges Faure Gnassingbé to immediately and unconditionally release all of the roughly one hundred political prisoners, and to take urgent measures to restore purchasing power to the population.

It called for an “unprecedented peaceful demonstration.”

Togo’s leader Faure Gnassingbé, who has ruled since 2005 after the death of his father, was in May sworn in as President of the Council of Ministers.

The powerful role has no official term limits and he is eligible to be re-elected by parliament indefinitely.

Opposition politicians have denounced the move as a “constitutional coup.”

Demonstrations are rare in Togo because they have been banned in the country since 2022 following a deadly attack at Lome’s main market.

But the latest change in government structure has been widely criticized in a region threatened by rampant coups and other threats to democracy.

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