Hundreds of people backing the coup in Niger gathered Thursday for a mass rally in the capital Niamey with some brandishing giant Russian flags, AFP journalists said.
The demonstrators converged at Independence Square in the heart of the city, following a call by a coalition of civil society associations on a day marking the country's 1960 independence from France.
Biden calls for immediate release of Niger's Bazoum
US President Joe Biden called on Thursday for the immediate release of Niger's elected President Mohamed Bazoum, and for the country's democracy to be preserved.
"I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger's hard-earned democracy," Biden said in a statement.
