Burkina Faso security forces fire tear gas at protesters

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces have fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital. Tensions have risen across the conflict-riddled nation with the population angry at the government’s inability to stem violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Several hundred protesters took to the streets early Saturday morning calling for President Roch March Christian Kabore to resign. The government’s crackdown on the protesters follows a week of a mobile internet shutdown which the government said was for national security reasons. The president has vowed to increase aid to the military and investigate the deaths in the Sahel while calling on the population to maintain calm.