CHAD- Tuesday, 27 April 2021: At least two people were killed on Tuesday during a violent anti-junta protests  that kicked off in Chad, in the capital N'Djamena as demonstrators demand a return to civilian rule after the military took power following the death of long-time leader Idriss Deby last week.

The protesters defied a ban and rallied in N’Djamena and in the south of the semi-desert country where civilian rule was suspended following Deby’s death.

Police were deployed in N’Djamena to break up the planned demonstrations against the so-called Transitional Military Council called by the opposition and civil society groups.

Deby’s 37-year-old son Mahamat now leads the council, and has pledged to hold elections in 18 months.

But the opposition called the TMC an “illegal and illegitimate organ endorsed by France which thinks it can impose a new military dictatorship” on its former colony.

Police used tear gas to disperse small groups of demonstrators in the capital, some of whom burned tyres, AFP journalists saw.

A woman died when anti-junta protesters attacked a bus in N’Djamena’s Dembe district, a prosecutor told AFP.