SUMMARY

The Government of Guinea has made use of one-sided violence during attempts to quell popular dissent. In these incidents the army, police, gendarmes, and Red Berets have been deployed to disperse demonstrations against the government and the president; demonstrations that were oftentimes non-violent.

Anti-government demonstrations have been relatively common during the 2000s, with organized labor movements and other civil society organizations taking to the street to demonstrate against the lack of freedoms, unemployment, and the rising costs of living. Guinea, as a state ruled by a very powerful president, has been quick to use repression to deal with such dissident. This use of repression has led to the violent deaths of unarmed civilian protesters.

In the bulk of cases civilians have been shot dead by army or security forces while demonstrating. Several have also been killed during house-to-house searches for opposition activists.

The Government of Guinea first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2007, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in February that year when large-scale labor union-led demonstrations and subsequent repression by government forces resulted in more than 25 deaths.