Overview

• Authorities imposed a nighttime curfew as schools and most businesses closed and traffic thinned across the capital on Friday.
• Police and gendarmes used tear gas and rubber bullets to block a rally that had been banned by the prefecture.
• Crowds torched or sacked the homes of three pro‑government lawmakers and looted supermarkets, banks and a newly opened cable‑car station, with further pillaging reported Friday in some suburbs.
• Reporters Without Borders denounced police violence against at least three journalists and called for those responsible to be identified.
• Local media citing a hospital source reported an initial toll of five deaths, a figure not yet confirmed, as foreign embassies advised residents to stay home.