BUJUMBURA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-one people including 20 inmates and a policeman were Thursday injured in a riot that happened at Murembwe prison in Rumonge province, 70km south of the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the police spokesman said Friday.
"The riots started yesterday around 1:30 p.m. and ended late at night. The riots opposed inmates to the cooks working in the prison. Inmates who are assigned security inside the prison had to intervene but in vain," Burundian Police Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye said.
According to him, police agents had to fire into the air to control the riots and to prevent them from evading.
He said the reason behind the riot is, according to inmates, "little food" given to them as they alleged that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had on Wednesday established the quantity of food that should be given to them.
"Nineteen inmates who are among masterminds of the riot have been transferred to other prisons," Nkurikiye said.
