ABIDJAN: Police in Ivory Coast arrested opposition figures and used teargas to disperse demonstrators gathering on Thursday to protest against a new draft constitution due to be voted on in a referendum later this month. President Alassane Ouattara says the new constitution will turn the page on a decade of political turmoil and civil war, but opposition leaders have called the document a step backward for democracy in French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy. Police in riot gear broke up the planned march in the commercial capital Abidjan as demonstrators were gathering early on Thursday. In addition to firing teargas at the still small crowd of around 50 people, Reuters witnesses saw officers strike protesters with batons. “We came here democratically to say no to this constitution, and Mr. Ouattara is throwing us in prison. He can keep doing this, but we will also continue,” said opposition politician Mamadou Koulibaly as he was bundled into a police truck. Aboudramane Sangare, who heads a hardline faction of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s FPI party, was also driven away by police along with around 20 other opposition supporters.