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NIAMEY - High school pupils in Niger have lynched an off-duty soldier, the third such killing in a spate of violent protests by university students and school pupils, the Interior Ministry said.
The soldier was cycling home on his moped past a municipal high school in the capital Niamey on Tuesday afternoon when protesters attacked him, the ministry said in a statement.
"After stopping the member of the Niger armed forces, the pupils lynched him and destroyed his moped," the statement said.
It said it was the "third such case recorded recently", though it gave no details of the other two instances.
Demonstrations have escalated in recent days, calling on security forces to withdraw from the national university campus in the city, where they have been posted for the past six months to maintain order.
High school pupils have joined students from the university in mounting barricades in the city's streets and burning tyres to stop the traffic, sparking clashes with security forces.
The dispute stems partly from student opposition to the coordinator of student services, Djibril Abarchi, who was appointed for a year in a compromise between academic staff and the government, which had planned to appoint a military officer to run the university campus.
But Abarchi's efforts to cut costs by reducing power and water consumption have proved unpopular with students. In a bid to quell disruption on campus, security forces were posted to keep order, further angering students.
Violence has increased since six university students were expelled on March 20 for their part in the protests, including student union leader Diori Ibrahim, who is now in detention at Tillaberi, around 100 km from Niamey.
Landlocked Niger is one of the world's poorest countries despite being one of the world's top uranium producers, and ranks bottom of the most recent United Nations Human Development index.
- REUTERS
