A vast number of supporters of the Republic of Niger’s coup leaders had assembled on Friday, August 11, near a French military base on the fringes of the capital Niamey, according to AFP reporters.
The demonstrators had shouted: “down with France, down with ECOWAS”, in response to the West African bloc’s deployment of a standby force to reinstate constitutional order in Niger.
Several demonstrators had displayed Russian and Niger flags and screamed their support for the country’s new leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani.
Mohamed Bazoum, the country’s democratically elected president was ousted on July 26, by members of his guard.
The coup has since been castigated by fellow nations in West Africa, the United Nations (UN) and Western countries, notably France, the former colonial power and a strong ally of Bazoum.
Previosly, a destructive rally outside the French embassy on July 30 had induced France to begin voluntary evacuations of its citizens.
France has about 1,500 military officers in Niger, sent to aid the country in its eight-year-long struggle against a biolent jihadist insurgency.
Many of these officers are deployed in the air base close to Niamey, in a facility that is operated jointly with Niger’s armed forces.
