Burkina Faso gov?t denies army takeover after barracks gunfire

We are trying to get in contact with them,” he said, adding that calm had returned to some of the barracks.The authorities later declared an overnight curfew from 8pm (20:00 GMT) “until further notice” and the education ministry said schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday across the country.Protesters siding with the mutinous soldiers had set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party in the capital earlier on Sunday, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.The blaze destroyed the ground floor of the building of the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) party, where protesters also vandalised the facade before being dispersed by police firing tear gas, the reporter said.The unrest came a day after clashes between police and demonstrators during protests against the authorities’ failure to stem violence ravaging the West African country.It also follows the arrest earlier this month of numerous soldiers over a suspected plot to “destabilise institutions” in the country, which has a long history of coups.A solider leading the mutiny in one barracks told Al Jazeera that they had six demands for the government.“One is hiring more troops to fight on the front lines against groups linked to ISIL [and] al-Qaeda,” Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, said.“They also demand better care for the wounded and the families of those who lost their loved ones as well as better wages, training and forming of permanent battalions to deal with threats,” Haque said.“[The mutineers’ demands] fall short of asking President Kabore to resign, but in their latest statement they say that if their demands are not met, then they will ask for Kabore to step down,” Haque added.He said that the internet had been cut across the country.Journalist Henry Wilkins, reporting from Ouagadougou, told Al Jazeera on Sunday evening that he did not think the government’s claims that the mutiny was under control were accurate.“It doesn’t appear to be turning into a full-scale coup – I think mutiny is the certainly the best word to use to describe what’s happening at the moment.