Violent protests in CAR’s capital after clashes

Armed militia members roamed the streets and protesters erected barricades on Sunday in the capital of Central African Republic, where deadly inter-religious clashes erupted a day earlier, witnesses said. At least 21 people were killed and another 100 were wounded on Saturday when Muslims attacked a mainly Christian neighborhood in Bangui in reprisal for the […]

Armed militia members roamed the streets and protesters erected barricades on Sunday in the capital of Central African Republic, where deadly inter-religious clashes erupted a day earlier, witnesses said.
At least 21 people were killed and another 100 were wounded on Saturday when Muslims attacked a mainly Christian neighborhood in Bangui in reprisal for the murder of a Muslim man.
The clashes were the worst this year in the city, where U.N. peacekeepers and French troops are meant to ensure security. The government blamed them on individuals seeking to derail elections planned for next month.
Angry young men used tree trunks to block Bangui’s main arteries early on Sunday. Soldiers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, fired tear gas at crowds on Avenue Boganda in an unsuccessful attempt to clear the road.
Witnesses reported hearing sporadic gunfire in parts of the city and saw homes and shops being looted. But there were no immediate confirmed reports of further deaths on Sunday.
“Enough is enough. We want (President Catherine) Samba-Panza to go. Since she’s been there the Muslims kill with impunity. She’s doing nothing to disarm them,” said one protester who declined to give his name.
Thousands of Central Africans have died and hundreds of thousands remain displaced after two years of violence that erupted after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country in 2013.
Seleka abuses sparked reprisals by Christian “anti-balaka” militias that drove most Muslims from the south in a de facto partition of the country.