Stampede at football match in Guinea kills at least 56


“Supporters threw stones. This is why the security services used tear gas,” reported Media Guinea, which also wrote that several of the dead were children and some of the injured were in critical condition.

The footage showed people lying on the floor of a hospital as members of a crowd helped the wounded.

Enock Loua, a resident of Nzerekore, learned over the phone that his niece Aline Olivier had been killed.

“We have a hard time realizing what happened to us, it is as if the sky has fallen on our heads,” Loua told The Associated Press.

Authorities are trying to establish who was responsible, Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bahsaid on national television.

The National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy opposition coalition said the tournament was organized to drum up support for Doumbouya’s “illegal and inappropriate” political ambitions.

Doumbouya, who ousted Pesident President Alpha Conde in 2021, has been eyeing a possible candidacy for the presidential election, for which the date has not been set. The transition charter put in place by his own regime does not allow him to run.

Guinea is one of a number of West African countries — including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — where the military has taken power and delayed a return to civilian rule.

Doumbouya said he was preventing the country from slipping into chaos and chastised the previous government for broken promises. He has, however, been criticized for not meeting the expectations that he raised.



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