Hundreds of supporters of Niger’s democratically elected President, Mohammed Bazum, took to the streets to demonstrate in support of the President and against the coup plotters.

According to Euronews, junta soldiers tried to break up the civilian gatherings by shooting into the air.

Niger’s elite Presidential Guard announced on state television on Wednesday that it had arrested President Bazum and was taking control of the state.

Members of the Guard have cordoned off the presidential palace and the state television building, but there are no reports of the Army’s presence on the streets of the capital.

The coup was condemned by the international community.

The chairman of the West African Economic and Monetary Union Ecowas and the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, arrived in Niger with the aim of negotiating a solution to the political crisis.

According to the coup plotters, President Bazum is in good health, but his exact whereabouts remain unknown. It remains unclear whether the rest of the military forces support the movement of the Presidential Guard.

President Mohamed Bazoum is one of the few pro-Western leaders in Africa’s Sahel region. He was elected two years ago in Niger State’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France in 1960.

Bazum took over a country plagued by poverty and a history of long-standing unrest.

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