At least one person was killed and about 10 others wounded by gunfire in Ivory Coast today when riots erupted during protests over a hike in electricity rates.
Demonstrators ransacked a number of electricity company agencies, government buildings and a bank in the central city of Bouake, witnesses said.
Similar violence flared earlier this week in the administrative capital of Yamoussoukro and the western city of Daloa over the hikes in electricity prices of up to 10 percent.
Following the unrest, the government agreed to allow residents to delay paying their electricity bills until September, but this did not prevent the demonstrations in Bouake.
A hospital source said about 10 injured people were taken to hospital and one succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
An AFP journalist saw the body of the 29-year-old dead man at the morgue. He had been shot in the stomach during the protest in Bouake.
