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KIGALI, Nov 20 (AFP) - Violent disturbances rocked districts of Kigali on Friday after bloodshed when opposition demonstrators took to the streets Thursday to back a peace settlement with Rwanda's rebels.
Security forces intervened late Thursday after youths loyal to President Juvenal Habyarimana's former single ruling party beat up residents and wrecked homes in the Kimicanga and Rugenge districts.
The unrest continued into Friday morning.
Officials said more than 50 people were wounded, about 100 arrested and several houses sacked after the protest, which was launched by four opposition parties who accuse Habyarimana of blocking peace negotiations.
The opposition parties are all in Rwanda's transitional government. They mustered some 10,000 people who also demonstrated against insecurity, following the killing of seven people since Monday.
Six activists of the opposition Democratic Republican Movement (MDR) party, and one member of Habyarimana's National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), died in clashes at Shyorongi, a town near Kigali.
Demonstrators molested suspected members of the MRND, and some were hurt before MRND supporters went on to a counter-attack, informed sources said.
Opposition speakers accused Habyarimana of blocking talks between the Rwandan government and the armed opposition Rwandan Patriotic Front, which have been taking place in Arusha, Tanzania, for months.
They demanded that domestic security be restored and denounced "the MRND dictatorship".
They also contested a recent alliance between the MRND and the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), a party they described as "racist and murderous".
mgu-sa/nb/ma AFP AFP SEQN-0262
