Controversial anti-vandalism law scrapped

Cote d'Ivoire's president, General Robert Guei, has signed a decree scrapping a law that held organisers of demonstrations liable for any material and other damage done during such protests, according to the minutes of a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. The 'Loi anti-casseur' (anti-vandalism law) was drawn up in 1992 to discourage political violence but was later made into "an instrument for the repression of democratic freedoms", according to the minutes of the meeting, published on Thursday in the official 'Fraternite Matin' daily. Under the law, leading members of the then opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) were jailed in October 1999 following a demonstration during which state property, including buses and the offices of 'Fraternite Matin', was destroyed.