Police in Niger fired tear gas Sunday to break up a banned opposition demonstration in the capital Niamey, a day after deadly riots over the publication by France's Charlie Hebdo magazine of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

Around 300 demonstrators gathered in central Niamey for a long-planned march on parliament, defying a ban on demonstrations announced on Saturday.

Violent mobs torched at least eight churches in Niger's capital Niamey on Saturday during fresh protests against the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, as France strongly condemned the violence and defended freedom of expression.

With France still reeling from last week's attacks that claimed 17 lives, jittery European countries stepped up security, with soldiers patrolling the streets of Belgium for the first time in 35 years.

Protesters angered by Charlie Hebdo's latest Prophet Mohammed cartoon set fire Friday to the French cultural center and three churches in Zinder, Niger's second biggest city, the head of the center said.

A crowd of around 50 people smashed the French center’s entrance door and set fire to the cafeteria, library and offices in spite of warning shots fired by two police guards, director Kaoumi Bawa told AFP.

Niger Thursday banned distribution of Charlie Hebdo in the mainly Muslim country, with the government "vehemently" condemning the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in the latest issue of the French satirical weekly.

"The government vehemently denounces and condemns the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, peace and blessings be upon him, contained in the issue of Charlie Hebdo for Wednesday, January 14, 2015, which it considers an insulting provocation and totally unacceptable," it said in a statement read on radio and state television.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Wednesday about the plight of tens of thousands of refugees who have fled to Niger to escape waves of deadly Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria.

"It's a very worrying situation," Red Cross spokesman Daddy Rabiou told AFP in Niamey, adding that the agency had provided food for more than 45,000 people last year.

A Nigerian archbishop called Monday for the same international support to tackle Boko Haram as France has received since it was hit by Islamist attacks last week.

"I see the very positive response of the French government tackling this issue of religious violence after the killing of their citizens," said the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria, Ignatius Kaigama.

Two of the defendants in a baby trafficking case in Niger were brought before prosecutors on Monday accused of trying to leave the capital during their trial, a defense lawyer said.

Hadiza Amadou, wife of former parliament speaker Hama Amadou, was arrested while traveling to her home region in western Niger.

Several senior political, military and business figures in Niger went on trial Friday on charges of taking part in the trafficking of babies from neighboring Nigeria.

The most prominent defendant, opposition leader and former parliament speaker Hama Amadou, was absent from the proceedings, having fled the west African country in August after lawmakers lifted his immunity from prosecution.

A solution to the crisis in Libya is not possible without an international intervention, the president of neighboring Niger said Friday.

"I do not see how the armed terrorist militias can create the conditions for reconciliation among Libyans," said President Mahamadou Issoufou. 

Leaders in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa called Friday on the United Nations to organize an international force "to neutralize the armed groups" sowing chaos in Libya.