Niamey - Security forces broke up demonstrations by hundreds of people after weeks of electricity cuts in Niger, with several protesters wounded and arrested on Monday, radio reports and police said.
Police fired teargas to disperse demonstrators who took to the streets of the central town of Tanout after a first day of protests on Sunday, private Anfani radio said.
Several people were hurt and about 20 were detained over both days, it said.
Demonstrators vandalised the premises of electricity provider Nigelec as well as the home of its main representative, a policeman told reporters by telephone.
“To demand the release of some of their friends detained on Sunday during a similar demonstration, the residents again took to the streets of Tanout on Monday,” he said.
A Nigelec official said on Anfani radio that the crowd had “badly beaten” another employee.
The impoverished country, much of it in the Sahara desert, regularly suffers power outages.
Since April the capital Niamey has suffered several long electricity cuts that Nigelec mostly blames on disruptions in Nigeria, which provides about 80 percent of Niger's power supply. - Sapa-AFP