AT LEAST 237 people were arrested on Saturday in Ivory Coast during a protest against what activists called the country’s authoritarian drift, according to a statement by Minister of the Interior and Security General Vagondo Diomande on national television.

Protesters reported the use of tear gas and makeshift roadblocks near the planned start of the march.

Ivory Coast, a nation of 32 million and the largest economy in Francophone West Africa, is due to hold a presidential election in two weeks. 

Earlier this year, four main opposition figures, including former president Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam, were barred from running by the electoral commission.

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power since 2010, announced his intention to run for a fourth term earlier this year in a controversial move following a 2016 constitutional change that removed the presidential term limit.

The day before the protest, the prefect of Abidjan declared that all marches in the capital on Saturday were illegal because of the need to maintain order during the election period.

“All these people will be held accountable for their actions,” Mr Diomande said, reiterating that the protest was illegal.