A court in Guinea has freed 22 people who were jailed in the eastern city of Kankan for protesting at power cuts, their lawyer said on Thursday. The protesters were among hundreds who took to the streets last week to demand the building of a promised hydroelectric dam and an end to power outages. Protesters clashed with security forces over two days, according to witnesses and a security official who declined to be named. Twenty-two people, most of them young, were jailed on Monday on charges of civil disobedience and disturbing public order. Their attorney, Antoine Camara, told AFP that his clients were freed on Wednesday evening. "They have all gone home," he said. Guinea is a resource-rich but impoverished West African nation of some 13 million people, where demand for electricity is growing and power cuts are rampant. Its 82-year-old president, Alpha Conde, first came to power in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015 partly on promises of delivering electricity nationwide. He is expected to run for re-election this year after controversially changing the constitution, a move that critics see as a power grab. Conde's party is due to meet over August 5-6 to formally pick a candidate for the upcoming election. bm/mrb/eml/ri