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Raids on opposition stir fears in Ivory Coast
The uniformed men came in the morning, while the youths in the opposition neighborhood were sleeping. Some wore masks.
They broke down metal doors, grabbed the young men from their beds and, yelling insults, beat them with truncheons. They took the youths away; one later died from the beatings, residents said. Within minutes, the dusty street was packed with angry mothers.
"Right in front of us, they severely mistreated our young ones!" lamented Mariam Diarra, after the young men had been hauled away early this week. Around her, dozens of distraught women milled about.
"They took away our children!" the women yelled, gesturing at the police standing only 20 yards away.
Another season of political violence is breaking on this troubled country, after years of coups, unrest, civil war and an election that was meant to put it all to rights. But the voting seems to have done the opposite. Two presidents, backed by two armies, now stare at each other warily. Diplomats say the risk of a return to civil war is real.