Police armed with anti-riot gears were deployed to the several areas of urban Gambia where street protests flared up late on Monday over the country’s worsening energy crisis.
There has been pent-up frustration over persistent power shortage in recent weeks, some lasting for over 19 hours, affecting businesses, homes and hospitals where patient reportedly died when electricity went off in the middle of operations.
Protests took place in Banjul where hundreds of young demonstrators took the streets of the capital, symbolically lighting candles, chanting ‘down with the government’ and demanding a more reliable energy supply.
Some of the protesters had intended to march to the gates of state house to register their frustration but were thwarted by police who used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In Gambia’s biggest town Serrekunda, there were running battles between the police and thousands of angry youth who burned tyres and set up barricades on major roads in Westfield following more than 16 hours of blackout.
There were similar scenes in Brufut and nearby Brusubi where protesters chanted political slogans critical of President Adama Barrow who recently promised to end the energy crisis with the acquisition of new generators.
Whole neighbourhoods in urban Gambia have been plunged into darkness throughout as the electricity crisis deepens. There were power interruptions in Basse and Bansang on Monday.
There will be more interruptions including in provincial towns, according to the latest notice from the National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec).
WN/as/APA