4 killed in violent Central African Republic anti-UN protests

Four civilians were killed on Monday when protests against United Nations peacekeepers turned violent in the Central African Republic, with gunfire and looting reported across the capital Bangui, the UN said.
Five UN peacekeepers were among 14 people injured during the demonstrations called by a coalition of civil society groups to demand the withdrawal of the more than 10 000-strong Minusca force over alleged failures to stop the rise of armed militias.
The groups also organised a one-day strike in the capital to press demands for a pullout.
Minusca “intervened from the early hours of Monday in Bangui to dismantle the barricades erected by hostile demonstrators”, the UN force said in a statement.
The force said it “strongly condemns the incidents that struck several areas of the capital and regrets that they led to the death of four civilians and injured 14 people,” adding that five of the injured were peacekeepers.
The UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called for calm in the capital and said that patrols would be strengthened.