BISSAU, Dec 4 (AFP) - Police in Guinea-Bissau used teargas Wednesday to disperse about 2,000 students who demonstrated in the capital to back a demand by state schoolteachers for the payment of long overdue wages. After the mainly teenaged students dispersed, they went to privately owned schools in the capital of the small west African nation to drive pupils out of classes there, an AFP correspondent reported. "If there's no school for us, there shouldn't be for other pupils either," one of the youngsters told AFP. State schools across Guinea-Bissau had been due to open for the new academic year in October, but teachers have kept them closed, asking the government to come up with three months of back pay as well as bonuses that have been due for a year. "Until our demands are met, there will be no classes," the president of the SINAPROF teachers' union, Vincent Mendes, told AFP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~