Gunfire can be heard, tear gas as protesters march forward and then a brief flash of light inside the national assembly followed by the sound of a loud explosion.

Violence erupted across the Central African nation on Wednesday (August 31) with the announcement of a slim victory for Ali Bongo.

The president’s main rival Jean Ping said he won the vote, claiming the result announced by the commission was rigged, and has called upon the international community to intervene.

A fire swept through the national assembly. Television stations, supermarkets, shops, and homes were looted in Libreville on Wednesday and Thursday and unrest also broke out in other cities and in rural areas. The offices of L’Union newspaper were also attacked.

Bongo said in his nation’s address on Thursday that the perpetrators would not go unpunished.

Five people died in the unrest, Bongo’s spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze said on Friday, and up to 1,100 arrests had been made by Thursday, according to the interior minister.

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