French President's visit sparks protests in Ouagadougou

Peaceful Assembly 

Groups of students protested against French president Emmanuel Macron's November 2017 visit to the University of Ouagadougou I, where he addressed hundreds of students on French politics in Africa. The protesters attempted to enter the university but due to the presence of security forces, some of the student protesters moved to the Zogona neighbourhood, where clashes with security officers took place. Students threw rocks and barricaded roads, while police responded with tear gas. Some students were protesting against imperialism, while others, such as the student movement Deux heures pour nous deux heures pour Kamita, condemned the fact that they could not enter the university during Macron's visit. 

A group of seven civil society organisations also called for an anti-imperialism protest during Macron's visit of the country, specifically to denounce the plundering of natural resources by multinational companies, as well as to criticise the country's currency of francs CFA and the presence of French forces in Burkina Faso. 

On 13th December 2017, hundreds of people gathered to demand justice and truth in the case of the murder of journalist Norbert Zongo and his colleagues, who were found dead on 13th December 1998. The investigation into the murders was reopened after the fall of the Compaoré regime in 2014. The protest took place in Koudougou, the birth place of Zongo.