Sharjah24 - AFP: Niger braced Friday for a weekend of planned anti-French rallies as tensions mount between the country's new military rulers and its traditional ally.
A coalition of civil society groups opposed to the presence of French forces in Niger has called a three-day sit-in, starting Friday.
The protest, organised by the M62 grouping, is set to take place in central Niamey to demand the departure of the French contingent.
France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, who are deployed to help fight a bloody jihadist insurgency.
Separately, a "permanent" sit-in has also been called by another civil society group, the Patriotic Front for the Sovereignty of Niger.
Kicking off Saturday, it will continue "until the departure of all French soldiers", organisers say.
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