Burkina Faso army seizes control of state TV headquarters

OUGADOUGOU: The Burkina Faso army seized control of the national TV headquarters and the capital's main square on Sunday in defiance of calls by the international community and thousands of demonstrators to hand over power to civilian rule. 

Troops moved in to Place de la Nation in Ouagadougou, setting up barricades and removing thousands of people who had gathered to denounce the army's power grab after the ouster of president Blaise Compaore on Friday. 

Soldiers from the presidential guard also fired into the air to disperse protesters as they took control of national broadaster RTB and cleared out all staff. 

The military stepped into the power vacuum left after Compaore stepped down in the wake of violent street demonstrations over his 27-year-rule of the west African state that some have likened to the Arab Spring. But international mediators brandished the threat of sanctions if the army refused to back down and allow a civilian transfer of power. The UN envoy for west Africa, Mohamed Ibn Chambas said in the Burkinabe capital that he and African leaders had pressed the demand in a meeting with the country's top military brass.