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Date:          Wed, 12 Feb 1997 23:04:40 -0500
From:          NewsHound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (NewsHound)
To:            cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:       [69] PROTESTERS RIOT OVER DUMPED U.S. IMMIGRATION FORMS

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "RIOTS". The selectivity score was
69 out of 100.

Protesters riot over dumped U.S. immigration forms
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY

Associated Press Writer

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- Police fired on stone-throwing rioters who
attacked the central post office Wednesday after thousands of completed U.S.
visa applications were found dumped in the sea.

The city's main hospital said 17 people were admitted, some with gunshot wounds,
 but police maintained there were no injuries among the several hundred rioters.

The business center of this West African capital shut down as protesters hurled
stones at the post office, attacked nearby shops and smashed the windows of mail
 trucks.

The riot began when several hundred youths charged the post office, enraged
after 5,000 immigration lottery forms, in stamped envelopes containing
applicants' photographs and personal details, were spotted Tuesday floating near
 the King Jimmy wharf in the capital. The forms give applicants a chance to win
immigration visas to the United States.

Police used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators.

Transport and Communications Minister Suleiman Tejan-Jalloh appealed for calm
and ordered an investigation into the dumping. He promised stiff punishments if
the perpetrators were found.

The Point newspaper speculated that the government ordered the applications
thrown away to hide residents' eagerness to leave this poor and restive nation.

A recent peace agreement ended a five-year civil war that displaced about 1.6
million people, nearly a third of the population. Most refugees flocked to
towns, straining social services.

Salpost, the national postal service, has been accused before of tampering with
mail.

AP-WS-02-12-97 2108EST


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