Updated

Demonstrators have fought police in Zambia during protests against a political shakeup following the death last week of President Michael Sata.

Witnesses say the riots occurred late Monday in several places in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, including a government lodge designated as a place for Sata mourners to gather. The protesters were angry over the decision by the acting president, Guy Scott, to dismiss Edgar Lungu, the ruling party's general secretary.

Lungu, who remains defense and justice minister, says his dismissal is illegal and accuses Scott, a white Zambian of Scottish descent, of "insulting our culture."

Sata died Oct. 28 in a London hospital after a long illness.