2009 Guinea protest

The 2009 Guinea protest was an opposition rally in Conakry, Guinea on Monday, 28 September 2009, with about 50,000 participants protesting against the junta government that came to power after the Guinean coup d'état of December 2008. The protest march was fueled by the indication of junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara breaking his pledge to not run in the next presidential vote due in January 2010. The government had already banned any form of protests until 2 October, and when the demonstrators gathered in a large stadium, the security forces opened fire at them. At least 157 demonstrators were killed, 1,253 injured and 30, including Cellou Dalein Diallo, the leader of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UDFG), were arrested and taken away in lorries.

Sidya Touré, former Prime Minister and now an opposition leader, was also injured in the shootings and spoke to the BBC secretly from a hospital's restroom. Opponents have accused the junta of limiting freedom of speech and violating human rights. Camara said that the troops responsible for the shooting spree were out of his control.

On 24 December 2008, about six hours after the death of Lansana Conté, a statement was read on state radio announcing a military coup d'état by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara on behalf of a group called the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), which said that "the government and the institutions of the Republic have been dissolved." The statement also announced the suspension of the constitution "as well as political and union activity." According to Captain Camara, the coup was necessary because of Guinea's "deep despair" amidst rampant poverty and corruption, and he said that the existing institutions were "incapable of resolving the crises which have been confronting the country." Furthermore, Camara said that someone from the military would become President, while a civilian would be appointed as Prime Minister at the head of a new government that would be ethnically balanced.

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