About two people were killed during clashes with police in the suburbs of Guinea’s capital Conakry on Monday, according to reports by their families and medical sources. The deaths are coming amid a national strike that has crippled the city and wrecked havoc on some mining operations.
The strike has drained the main thoroughfares, closed banks and shut down markets, but it had also led to some incidents of unrest in some residential areas on Monday.
Groups of young men took to the streets to air their frustration with living conditions in the junta-led West African country.
The deceased persons from the Monday unrest included an o18-year-old student who died after being shot in the chest in the Sonfonia district and motorbike taxi driver, Ibrahima Touré, aged 21, who succumbed to a bullet wound after clashes with security forces in another district.
A hospital source had confirmed both deaths.
The strike, which encompasses the public, private and informal sectors, continued on Tuesday.
The demands of an umbrella group for multiple workers’ unions had included for the food prices to be lowered, internet restrictions to be lifted, and the application of a wage deal to be reached with the government in November.
There has been no official response from the government that was set up by a military junta that took over power in a 2021 coup. It has quelled recurring anti-government protests, often violently, within the last few years.
