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KIGALI, Nov 19 (AFP) - Nearly 10,000 people thronged into the streets of Kigali Thursday to demonstrate against insecurity in Rwanda, where seven people have died in political clashes since Monday, informed sources said.
Six activists of the opposition Democratic Republican Movement (MDR) party, and one member of President Juvenal Habyarimana's National Republican Movement for Democracy (MRND), have died in the clashes between supporters of the two parties at Shyorongi some 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) from Kigali.
Rioters barricaded all the roads leading to the area.
The demonstrators in Kigali responded to a call from the opposition parties, which all participate in the transition government: the MDR, the Liberal Party (PL), the Social Democrat Party (PSD), and the Christian Democrat Party (PDC).
They carried banners reading "Elections after national reconciliation", "We protest against terrorism", "The people must be protected".
Some of the demonstrators were armed with sticks, clubs and stones while anti-riot forces were deployed in all areas of the capital.
Demonstrators molested suspected members of the MRND, and some were hurt, sources said.
Shops were closed and taxis came to a halt.
Opposition speakers accused President Habyarimana of blocking peace negotiations 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 to be restored and denounced "the MRND dictatorship".
They also contestted a recent alliance between the MRND and the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), a party they described as "racist and murderous".
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AFP AFP SEQN-0403
