Conakry: Clashes pitted Guinea`s security forces against protesters in Conakry who demanded a revision of an election timetable that they say stacks the odds in the regime`s favour, an AFP journalist and witnesses said.
The clashes came a day before President Alpha Conde and opposition chief Cellou Dalein Diallo were due to hold talks, the first such meeting in three years.
With the houses of prominent opposition leaders cordoned off by security forces, Diallo said he feared the imminent talks could end up being "a shot in the dark".
Meanwhile the Guinean opposition urged more demonstrations -- this time nationwide -- on Monday.
The opposition wants local elections to be held before a presidential vote due in October.
They believe Conde wants the calendar unchanged because he wants to keep his cronies in local administrations, to help him rig the October vote.
The president denies the claims, arguing that local officials will not be involved in the vote.
On Thursday, the residences of Diallo and two other opposition leaders were completely cordoned off by members of the security forces.
"My family and I are being held against our will," Diallo said by telephone, accusing Conde of confining him.
"It really is a pity that these things happen the day before my meeting with the president. The meeting had raised a lot of hope in the path towards easing tensions so that dialogue and social peace can resume in our country," he said.
"I think the sceptics are right to believe (the meeting) will be a shot in the dark," he added.
Colonel Ansouma Camara of the Guinean police said the security measures had been put in place in order to minimise violence.
Two weeks of violent confrontations in April left several people dead and dozens wounded in the country`s largest towns and cities.
Then on Monday, one person died and at least 20 were wounded as fresh clashes broke out in the capital.
Thursday`s clashes hit several districts in the suburbs of Conakry, where many store owners closed their businesses for the day while the flow of traffic was blocked in some areas.
Young men threw stones at the security forces, who responded with teargas in some areas.
Some protesters burned tyres and set up barricades on the Fidel Castro highway linking the heart of the capital to the airport.
