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KIGALI, May 29 (AFP) - At least one person was killed and several seriously wounded in overnight clashes between pro-government supporters and the opposition which brought the capital to a standstill Friday, diplomats here said.
Informed sources put the death toll in the skirmishes between five and seven.
(In Brussels meanwhile, members of the ruling coalition government met with those of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) on human rights in Rwanda, an FPR spokesman said.)
Trouble flared at a march organised Thursday by the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, the former ruling party led by President Juvenal Habyarimana.
They were protesting against what they claimed was a statement by Liberal Party leader Justin Mugenzi inciting people to violence against the president's party.
The diplomats said young pro-government supporters attacked prominent opposition figures and their property during the march with iron bars, stones and machetes.
Opposition supporters -- mainly of the Democratic Republican Movement, the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party -- then mounted a counter-demonstration, clashing repeatedly with assailants until Friday morning.
Diplomats said police were slow to intervene on Thursday, but weighed in heavily and promptly on Friday, killing a looter.
The continuing protest and a demonstration by taxi drivers Friday completely paralysed the centre of Kigali. Shops were closed and civil servants stayed home.
Taxi drivers were protesting against the recent killing of one of their colleagues, who well-informed sources said was attacked by two colleagues belonging to the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic.
This group claims to support the interests of the majority Hutu people in Rwanda.
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AFP AFP SEQN-0286
