Tensions between President Faure Gnassingbe’s government and the opposition have heightened following parliament’s approval of a contested constitutional reform critics say is a bid to keep Togo’s leader in power.

The presidency announced Wednesday that more consultations were needed over the reforms and suspended the April 20 legislative and regional elections without giving a new date.

Four opposition parties and a civil society group issued a statement calling for protests on April 11, 12 and 13.

“The signatories vigorously condemn the regime’s manoeuvre, which attempts by all means to endorse its own constitutional coup,” the opposition statement said.

The reform dispute has fuelled debate over the rule of Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005 after succeeding his father, who governed for three decades after a military coup.

Fearing an attempt to keep Gnassingbe in power, opposition leaders say they want the government to withdraw the reform, which allows the National Assembly to elect the president directly.

Nine members of the opposition group Dynamique Monseigneur Kpodzro were detained by police in Lome after campaigning in a market about the illegality of the reform, party spokesman Thomas Kokou N’soukpoe said.

Public prosecutor Talaka Mawama said an investigation had been launched against “individuals caught distributing leaflets and chanting slogans inciting popular revolt” on Wednesday.

After a week of political tensions, Gnassingbe had already sent the law back to parliament for a second reading.

“The Togolese are angry and they want this constitutional bill to be withdrawn altogether. Otherwise they are creating disorder,” said Nathaniel Olympio, head of the opposition Party of the Togolese.

“This time, this constitutional coup will not pass… This time the Togolese people will stand up and say ‘no’.”