Burundi Protesters Keep Opposing President's 3rd Term Bid

Despite the failure of a coup against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, about 30 protesters said Saturday they will continue demonstrating against the leader's bid for a third term.

The protesters defied Nkurunziza's ban on demonstrations and vowed to continue to take to the streets to press the president to drop his plan to run for re-election in June.

"We are going to continue with the protests because our aim is to stop the president's third term. We can see that they are determined to stop us but we are not getting scared and we will not stop the protests. We will continue to fight for the constitution to be respected,'' said Jean Paul Ndayiragije.

Nkurunziza's spokesman Gervais Abayeho said the president returned to the capital Friday after the coup attempt fizzled, but he has not been seen publicly.

Opposition leaders and members of privately owned media said that they fear being targeted in a government crackdown of those suspected of involvement in a failed attempt to overthrow Nkurunziza.

Weeks of turmoil in this Central African nation boiled over Wednesday when an army general announced that Nkurunziza had been ousted but the president put down the coup with the army.

Burundi's election commission said it will review the situation in the coming week to determine whether elections should continue.