AT LEAST two people were shot dead and 18 injured when French forces opened fire as protesters blocked a military convoy in western Niger on Saturday.

Barricades were put up in the city of Tera to prevent passage of a fleet of armoured vehicles and logistics trucks after it crossed the border on Friday.

Hundreds of angry protesters gathered and chanted “Down with France,” a sign of the growing anger over the French military presence in the Sahel region.

Similar protests saw a three-day standoff between French forces and residents of the city of Kaya in neighbouring Burkina Faso, causing the convoy to seek another route as it makes its way from Ivory Coast to Mali.

French military spokesman Pascal Ianni confirmed that soldiers had fired what he described as “warning shots” and tear gas to disperse the crowds. He denied claims that civilians had been killed as “false information.”

But Niger’s Interior Ministry condemned the French response to the protests. “In its attempt to extricate itself, [the French force] used force. Sadly, we deplore the death of two people and 18 injuries, 11 of them serious,” it said in a statement.

France has been accused of giving clandestine support to jihadist groups that are plaguing the region in order to justify its continued military presence there.

Anger erupted in Burkina Faso on Saturday, with mass protests in the capital Ouagadougou. A government building was torched as police opened fire with tear gas.

Campaigners are responding to a surge in Islamist attacks, including the massacre of 49 military police officers and four civilians in the northern town of Inata earlier this month.

Spokesman for the Save Burkina Faso movement Valentin Yamkoudougou called for President Roch Kabore to stand down.

“Since he came to power, terrorists have spread desolation in this country and he is incapable of finding a solution to this problem. So we ask for his immediate resignation,” he said.