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Shops reopen after three-day closure

Shop owners in the northeastern town of Bria reopened for business on Wednesday after a three-day shutdown in protest against police extortion, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Wednesday. The radio reported that stores shut on Sunday after municipal police seized a motor bicycle from a shop owner. In a show of solidarity, cattle herders and butchers suspended their activities – causing meat shortage in Bria, some 450 km northeast of Bangui, the nation’s capital. In an effort to end the strike, the acting governor of Haute Kotto Province, Etienne Ngoubale, announced on Wednesday that he would prosecute the instigators of the protest for "breaching public order". However, he also said security forces should exercise greater discipline. Commercial and administrative activity, which was paralysed by a six-month rebellion that ended in March, has started to pick up following the gradual return of security to the area.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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