Police arrest protesters

Police in Cote d'Ivoire arrested eight people during a Tuesday protest by the youth wing of the Union pour la democratie et la paix en Cote d'Ivoire, members of the opposition Parti pour le progres social, and the NGOs Concorde and CONAREF, news organisations reported.

The demonstrators were demanding the implementation of resolutions of a 2001 national reconciliation forum, and the removal of the president of the electoral commission following local elections in July in which several parties have accused the commission of bias and partiality.

Police broke up the march and arrested the protesters as they were about to enter Abidjan's business district on their way to the Presidential offices to present a letter containing their grievances, newspapers said.

Several political parties have complained of bias by the commission but demands for implementation of resolutions of the October-December 2001 reconciliation forum have also motivated street demonstrations.

The youth wing of The Rassemblement des republicains (RDRD), one of the country's main opposition, has recently postponed a march it had planned to push for a faster implementation of the resolutions.

Meanwhile RDR leader Jean-Jacques Bechio received a 12-month deferred sentence and was fined 500,000 francs (US $738) in a February 2001 case in which he was accused of threatening state security. The government had said it discovered arms and ammunitions at his home.

After spending four months in jail, Bechio was released in May 2001 pending further investigations. After several court appearances, the charges were reduced to illegal weapons possession. Bechio, who served as minister under late President Houphouet-Boigny, was one of several RDR leaders arrested, then released, news organisations said.