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| - All opposition figures who were detained in Mali after violent protests against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Friday have been released, their lawyers said on Monday. Alifa Habib Kone, one of the lawyers representing the opposition figures, said that three of his clients had been released on Monday. "Others were released as early as last night, in a disorderly manner," he added. Another lawyer, Abdrahamane Ben Mamata Toure, also confirmed the release. Security forces arrested some 20 opposition figures in the aftermath of unrest in the capital city Bamako on Friday. An initial peaceful rally urging the president to resign turned violent after protesters blocked bridges, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster, and attacked the parliament building. The newly-formed June 5 movement behind recent protests has been channelling deep-seated frustrations in Mali over a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption. Clashes persisted over the weekend in Bamako and continued through Monday, with much of the tension focused in the opposition-supporting Badalabougou neighbourhood. Eleven people have died and 124 have been injured since the unrest began, according to a senior official at a major Bamako hospital. On Sunday, representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS urged Mali to pursue political dialogue and to release the detained opposition leaders. The country's international allies are keen to avoid the unstable country slipping into chaos. Outside the capital, the Sahel state of some 19 million people has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. sd-kt-lal/eml/ri
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