Angry Togo youths protest after poll result

LOME - Angry youths poured onto the streets of Togo's capital Lome yesterday, setting up burning barricades, throwing rocks and attacking cars after their candidate lost a presidential election.

Pickup trucks with members of the security forces roamed the capital's streets. The men were carrying sticks, riot shields, assault rifles and one had a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Black smoke rose into the sky from neighbourhoods right across the coastal capital. Riot police were deployed as youths hastily erected roadblocks in several areas. Elsewhere, scared residents scurried for cover down rapidly emptying streets.

Togo's ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingbe was declared winner of the West African country's presidential election on Tuesday with 60.22 per cent of the vote, according to provisional results from the electoral commission.

Opposition activists had vowed to launch violent protests if Gnassingbe were declared winner, saying the election had been marred by irregularities which invalidated the result.

- REUTERS