Police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters in Burundi's capital yesterday, during the second day of demonstrations against the president's decision to run for a third term, a move critics say violates the constitution.
"The fight continues," crowds chanted as about 200 people gathered in Bujumbura's Musaga district. Protesters massed in other parts of the city and tyres burned in the streets.
Activists said at least five people were killed on Sunday, a day after President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would run in the June 26 election, triggering unrest in the east African nation that emerged from an ethnically fuelled civil war in 2005.
Activists say Nkurunziza broke the constitution and the Arusha peace agreement that ended the civil war, both documents limiting the president to two five-year terms. Nkurunziza's supporters say his first term does not count as he was picked by lawmakers, not elected.
Tensions in Burundi have sent thousands of people fleeing across the border to Rwanda and created fresh turmoil in a region where other presidents, such as Joseph Kabila in Democratic Republic of Congo, are nearing presidential term limits.
Prominent activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa said at least five people were killed in the capital on Sunday, three of them in protests and two more in an attack by the ruling party's Imbonerakure youth wing.