Mauritania police beat anti-coup protesters

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) -- Police broke up an anti-government march by launching tear gas and beating protesters who were demanding Mauritania's deposed president be reinstated.

The 50 or so protesters had gathered late Sunday in Nouakchott despite a ban on demonstrations, which ruling junta officials said Monday was necessary for security reasons.

The protesters demanded that President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi be returned to office, after he was ousted in an August 6 coup led by Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

"No to the coup d'état! Yes to democracy!" the protesters shouted before they were forced to disband.

An Associated Press reporter saw police pounding people with clubs and shooting tear gas into a crowd.

The ruling junta last week prohibited demonstrations and marches after recent attacks by an al Qaeda affiliate in the country's northern desert, Nouakchott Gov. Mohamed Lemine Ould Moulaye Zeine said Monday.

Abdallahi was Mauritania's first democratically elected president in more than two decades.

The coup leader, Aziz, has accused Abdallahi of corruption and being soft on terrorism, but Abdallahi's supporters say the allegations are false and being used by the junta to justify the coup.

Many in Mauritania had hoped Abdallahi's 2007 election would end the pattern of political upheaval in the West African country, which has been wracked by more than 10 coups or attempted coups since its 1960 independence from France.

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