Tens of thousands of protesters demanding the ousting of Burkina Faso’s veteran President Blaise Compaore faced off with security forces outside the presidential palace after burning Parliament and ransacking state TV yesterday.

At least three protesters were shot dead and scores were wounded by security forces, emergency services said, as the vast crowd tried to storm the home of the President’s brother and overran other state buildings.

It was not immediately possible to confirm the whereabouts of President Compaore, who seized power in the gold and cotton-producing West African nation in a coup 27 years ago. But there were signs of political manoeuvring. The military command announced it would issue a statement later in the day and opposition leaders said they had held talks with retired General Kouame Lougue, a former defence minister, about forming a transitional government.

We want Blaise Compaore to leave, we want change

Later yesterday the head of Burkina Faso’s armed forces announced the dissolution of the national assembly and the creation of a national transitional government to last a maximum of 12 months, though he did not say who would lead it.

“A transitional body will be put in place in consultation with all parties. A return to the constitutional order is expected in no more than 12 months,” General Honore Traore told a news conference after a day of violent protests in the capital.

Crowds stormed Parliament earlier in the day in protest against a vote due yesterday on a government plan to change the Constitution to allow the President to stand for a third term next year.

Cars burn at a hotel where members of the parliament were said to be staying in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, yesterday.

Opposition leaders and demonstrators said they would not stop until the President left.

“We want Blaise Compaore to leave. We want change,” said George Sawadogo, a 23-year-old student.

Any move to depose Compaore, an ally of the United States and former colonial power France, would be closely watched by other governments across West and Central Africa, where a number of long-serving leaders are reaching the end of their constitutional terms.

Black smoke swirled in the air above Parliament after demonstrators lit fires inside the building before looting computers and televisions screens and wheeling away police motorbikes, a Reuters reporter said. The headquarters of the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party was also gutted by fire. At the headquarters of state television, which was forced off the air after the building was taken, jubilant protesters posed on the set of the evening news programme. Soldiers deployed outside state radio with an armoured personnel carrier to defend it from the crowd.

“The people have done most of the work. Now is the time for the soldiers to come to talk to us. We are waiting for General Lougue,” said one protester, who asked not to be named, in the Place de la Nation, a vast open space in the centre of Ouagadougou that was packed with demonstrators.

“It is absolutely necessary for Blaise Compaore to leave power and for a transitional government to take over,” said senior opposition figure Simon Compaore who is not related to the President. Large protests also erupted in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina’s second biggest town, and Ouahigouya, in the north of the country.