Two cops, one civilian killed in Burundi protests

Two policemen and a civilian have been killed and several others wounded in a grenade attack in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, police say.

The attack was carried out in the Kamenge district of the capital on Friday amid protests that have rocked the city for over a month.

Moreover, nearly 600 people have been arrested in Burundi during protests and clashes ignited by President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to remain in power.

Out of 577 arrests, nearly 250 cases have been sent for prosecution and 150 undergoing questioning, while the rest of the detainees have been released, police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said on Friday.

According to Agnes Bangiricenge, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, those charged would be tried for “taking part in an uprising” and might be sentenced from five years in prison to life behind bars.

Protesters said they would stop demonstrations for two days, warning that they will return to the streets on Monday unless Nkurunziza backs down.

The president should “take advantage of these 48 hours to think about the consequences of his project and to give up by Monday,” Pacifique Nininahazwe, the head of one of Burundi's main civil society groups, said. “If not, we will return to the streets on Monday with much more vigor and we will not leave until he gives up his project."

At least seven people have lost their lives and 66 others have been injured in clashes between police and protesters in the capital Bujumbura during the past week, the Burundian Red Cross says.

The United Nations has voiced alarm over the African country’s political crisis, saying the Nkurunziza administration was engaged in a ruthless crackdown but "will not succeed in quashing dissent".

“According to one credible report, over 400 individuals are being held in extremely overcrowded conditions, with detainees having to sleep standing up,” Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva. “Detainees have also been beaten, particularly on their feet and buttocks, with some of those released having trouble walking due to the beating."

The unrest broke out after the ruling CNDD-FDD party nominated Nkurunziza as its candidate for the next presidential poll slated for June 26. Opposition figures and rights groups, however, insist that his bid for a third successive term violates the constitution and a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2006.

Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader and born-again Christian from the Hutu majority, has been in power since 2005.

His supporters say that he is still eligible to run since he was elected to his first term by the nation’s parliament and not by a direct popular vote.

However, according to the constitution, the president "is elected by universal direct suffrage for a mandate of five years renewable one time."

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