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Blaise Compaoré

The former president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara

Burkina Faso’s protests broke 27 years of fear and silence

Global Politics

Marco Werman, host of PRI’s The World, started his journalism career in Ouagadougou in 1987 just weeks before a bloody coup. The man who took power, Blaise Compaoré, ruled for 27 years before protests forced him out of office last week. Marco remembers the fear and silence that gripped the country then too.

Protesters chant slogans at Place de la Nation in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, on October 28, 2014. Police fired tear gas at rock-throwing protesters after tens of thousands of people marched through the city on Tuesday morning.

People in Burkina Faso are taking to the streets to protest their ‘president for life’

Global Politics
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