Mauritania police break up anti-regime protest with teargas

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) - Mauritanian police fired teargas to break up a fresh opposition protest Friday calling for President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to step down, leaving many injured and at least five under arrest.

Youths gathered after Friday prayers in the Muslim majority country for the anti-regime protest called by the Coordination of Youths from the Opposition (CJO), which police broke up using teargas and batons.

"Many were injured including the coordination's president Fadhel Ould Elmoctar," who was taken to hospital for a head wound, a spokesman for the protesters said.

"At least five youths were arrested."

Dozens of youths barricaded themselves in a mosque after the protesters dispersed and "police are following the evolution of the situation," a policeman told AFP.

The opposition began holding similar protests on May 2, most of which have been broken up by police, leaving several injured.

They want former general Abdel Aziz to step down, accusing him of despotism and mismanagement as well as failing to heed commitments made in the so-called Dakar accords which led to his election in 2009, a year after he seized power in a coup d'etat.