Violent clashes erupted in Tanji around 11pm on Wednesday as protesters confronted paramilitary officers, resulting in the Tanji Police Station being set ablaze and several arrests.

Eyewitnesses told Gambiana that protesters, locally described as “the boys,” overpowered security personnel and set the police station ablaze before advancing towards Batakunku.

The confrontation escalated when paramilitary officers fired teargas to disperse the crowd.

“Everybody is sneezing. I was sneezing, I nearly collapsed,” one eyewitness said. “The officers threw teargas. That’s when the woman collapsed at the gate.”

The woman collapsed at Ocean Lodge along the Gunjur Highway.

Sources who rescued her said she was taken inside the lodge, where she was lying down and receiving attention at the time of filing this report.

Paramilitary officers were subsequently deployed to the area and arrested several protesters, according to sources on the ground.

The Tanji incident forms part of nationwide protests over longstanding electricity and water shortages and worsening economic conditions under President Adama Barrow’s government.

By Modou Jobe