Police fire tear gas at Sierra Leone opposition after vote

Police in Sierra Leone have fired tear gas at the main opposition party’s headquarters in the capital Freetown as voters await the results of a fiercely fought general election.

The opposition’s presidential candidate Samura Kamara of All People’s Congress (APC) said on Twitter that live bullets had been fired at his office inside the party headquarters on Sunday.The Reuters news agency also reported that one person – a woman – was found severely wounded and without a pulse at the opposition party headquarters.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, a prominent APC member bidding for a second term as Freetown mayor, tweeted photos from inside the building showing people taking cover on the floor.

“I am in the APC Party office and we are under fire,” she wrote.

In a statement, police said members of the APC had paraded through Freetown, “announcing to the public that they had won” the election.

They attracted “a huge crowd” of supporters outside the headquarters, who “started harassing passers-by”, the force said.

“When the situation became unbearable, the police had to fire tear gas canisters so as to disperse the crowd which was harassing people on the road,” it added.

Vote tallying got under way across the country earlier on Sunday, but results have not yet been announced.

Violent incidents reported
Voting during Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections was mostly peaceful.