BUJUMBURA
At least two people have been killed in two days of protests in Burundi against President Pierre Nkurunziza's plan to run for a third term in office.
"Two protesters were killed and six others injured in the protests," Prime Niyongabo, head of the Burundian Defense Forces, told a press conference on Tuesday.
He said 37 policemen had also been injured in the disturbances.
Since Sunday, Burundi has been shaken by street protests after the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) named Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, as its candidate for June presidential polls.
Niyongabo said more than 200 protesters had been detained for possessing hand grenades and knives.
He went on to urge Burundians to provide information about anyone suspected of holding illegal weapons.
On Tuesday, protests continued for the third day in a row, spilling over from the capital into the country's second biggest city.
Protests were reported in Bujumbura and – for the first time – in Gitega, located some 120km from the capital, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported.
In Bujumbura, residents of the urban Nyakabiga commune blocked the main road with burning tires, while army troops stationed nearby looked on passively, one demonstrator told The Anadolu Agency.
One protester in Bujumbura's Mutakura district, for his part, said that all schools, shops and banks had been closed for the second day in a row due to the ongoing tensions.
On March 20, Nkurunziza proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow him to run for a third presidential term, sparking controversy across the central African nation.
Despite parliament's rejection of the proposal, the bill, according to the country's laws, can still be brought before the assembly for a second vote.
Critics say a third-term bid by Nkurunziza would violate the terms of the 2000 Arusha agreement, which, along with ending a Hutu-Tutsi civil war, stipulated that Burundi's president should serve no more than two terms.
