Peaceful protests in Ivory Coast provincial towns

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Thousands of people took to the streets in Ivory Coast's provincial towns on Wednesday amid a popular revolt that has forced military ruler General Robert Guei to flee from power.

But unlike the main city Abidjan, where several people were reported to have died on Tuesday and Wednesday, protests calling for Guei to concede election defeat to Socialist Laurent Gbagbo elsewhere were generally peaceful, witnesses said.

Guei, who took power in a coup last December, claimed victory in Sunday's election, proclaiming himself president on Tuesday. By Wednesday, in the face of massive street protests, he had been forced to flee.

Gbagbo, said in an address on state radio and television on Wednesday that he would form a new government after his supporters took over Abidjan and drove Guei from power.

In the second city Bouake, 350 km (220 miles) north of Abidjan, several thousand people marched up and down the main street, effectively closing the main road between Abidjan and the countries of Burkina Faso and Mali to the north.

Many roads in the city center had been closed off since Tuesday afternoon with makeshift barricades. Most market stalls did not open on Wednesday.

"Guei, robber" shouted the crowd, many waving branches ripped from mango trees and some with painted faces and leaves tied round their heads.

There was little sign of security forces and marchers said the soldiers based in the town's military camps appeared to have stayed there.

"Ivory Coast is not a dictatorship," one Bouake marcher cried out.

In the south-western port town of San Pedro, Gbagbo's supporters barricaded many roads, witnesses said.

Hundreds of FPI supporters and schoolchildren gathered in the main northern town of Korhogo and began a march around the city center, watched but not obstructed by paramilitary gendarmes, witnesses said.

"They are calling for Guei to resign," one marcher told Reuters.

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