Togo Election Violence
Black smoke from burning tyres filled the air within seconds of the results being announced in the 2005 Togolese presidential elections, following the death in office of long-time president Gnassingbé Eyadéma and election of his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Opposition supporters built flaming barricades and used machetes and nail-studded clubs to battle police and soldiers, who responded with force.
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A Togolese soldier kicks a suspected looter in the head, after forcing him to kneel, as opposition supporters rampaged through the streets erecting burning barricades and clashing with security forces within minutes of Faure Gnassingbe, son of ex-dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, being declared the winner of the Togolese presidential elections, in the capital Lome, Togo Tuesday, April 26, 2005. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The mother of a suspected looter wails on the ground whilst a Togolese soldier beats her son, as opposition supporters rampaged through the streets erecting burning barricades and clashing with security forces within minutes of Faure Gnassingbe, son of ex-dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, being declared the winner of the Togolese presidential elections, in the capital Lome, Togo Tuesday, April 26, 2005. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Opposition supporters fire stones at riot policemen using slingshots during running clashes in the Be district of the capital Lome, Togo Wednesday, April 27, 2005, a day after Faure Gnassingbe, son of ex-dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, was declared the winner of the Togolese presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An opposition supporter wielding a knife mans a burning roadblock in Bagida, about 15km from the Togolese capital Lome, in southern Togo Sunday, April 24, 2005. Opposition supporters set up roadblocks of burning tyres in Bagida and inside the capital itself, claiming electoral fraud by the ruling party in Sunday's presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An opposition supporter wears makeshift glasses made out of the party's symbol of a palm leaf, at a rally at the football stadium in the Togolese capital Lome, in southern Togo, Friday, April 22, 2005. The supporters, some armed with machetes and sticks, also took over the capital's streets Friday, ahead of Sunday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An opposition supporter rolls another tyre onto a burning roadblock in Bagida, about 15km from the Togolese capital Lome, in southern Togo Sunday, April 24, 2005. Opposition supporters set up roadblocks of burning tyres in Bagida and inside the capital itself, claiming electoral fraud by the ruling party in Sunday's presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Togolese riot policeman chases opposition supporters during running clashes in the Be district of the capital Lome, Togo Wednesday, April 27, 2005, a day after Faure Gnassingbe, son of ex-dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, was declared the winner of the Togolese presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An opposition supporter wielding a metal pipe shouts to others to continue down the road to the next burning roadblock in Bagida, about 15km from the Togolese capital Lome, in southern Togo Sunday, April 24, 2005. Opposition supporters set up roadblocks of burning tyres in Bagida and inside the capital itself, claiming electoral fraud by the ruling party in Sunday's presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Opposition supporters transport a friend to hospital who they said had been shot in the leg, after security forces clashed with opposition supporters who had rampaged through the streets and erected burning barricades within minutes of Faure Gnassingbe, son of ex-dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, being declared the winner of the Togolese presidential elections, in the capital Lome, Togo Tuesday, April 26, 2005. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A mob wielding machetes, burning tyres, sticks and rocks shout against the ruling party by a burning roadblock in Bagida, about 15km from the Togolese capital Lome, in southern Togo Sunday, April 24, 2005. Opposition supporters set up roadblocks of burning tyres in Bagida and inside the capital itself, claiming electoral fraud by the ruling party in Sunday's presidential elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
** Eds note: GRAPHIC CONTENT**An unidentified man believed to be a relative prepares the body of six year old Fanou Kokou Marcelin in a cardboard box for burial in the Tokoin neighbourhood of the capital Lome, Togo Wednesday, April 27, 2005. The boy was shot when gunmen wearing t-shirts bearing the face of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe broke into the house at night in the mainly opposition Tokoin neighbourhood and starting shooting randomly, according to his father. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
