Police used tear gas to prevent crowds from gathering there again and arrested people as they emerged from remains of the building.
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Bongo won victory with 49.8 percent of the vote, while Ping picked up 48.23 percent, resulting in a gap of fewer than 6,000 votes, according to provisional results.
“The UN supports the call of regional and worldwide observers for a transparent verification of election results”.
Mr Ping said the election was fraudulent and “everybody knows” he won.
On Boulevard Triomphal smoking barricades, torched buildings and blackened vehicle chassis lay in testament to the wave of anger that swept over the city after Wednesday’s announcement that President Ali Bongo had been reelected by the slimmest of margins.
Yet, the presidency denied the reported fire at the parliament, saying that protesters had lit bonfires around the building and they had been dispersed by police, according to Soi.
“The official announcement of results has plunged Gabon into a deep crisis”, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
Security forces surrounded the opposition headquarters overnight and stormed the building in the early hours of Thursday morning, killing two and injuring more than a dozen there, Ping said.
Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said that between 600 and 800 people were arrested in the capital Libreville, while 200 to 300 arrests were made elsewhere in Gabon.
One person was killed, said Ping’s campaign director, Rene Ndemezo’o Obiang. Gabonese opposition leader, Jean Ping, has reportedly gone into hiding after a helicopter attack on his headquarters.
The unrest killed at least three people, he said, without giving details.
Ali Bongo, 57, succeeded his father Omar Bongo who had come to power in 1967 and passed away in 2009.
Ali Bongo’s office has accused Ping’s camp of planning “coordinated attacks on symbols of the state” adding that security forces had in response encircled Ping’s headquarters and clashed with his supporters, resulting in one death, Reuters reports. Elections in Africa are frequently disputed but it is unusual for results to be overturned.
“The presidential guard plus some mercenaries and the police, after 1 a.m., bombed my headquarters”, Mr. Ping said.
“It’s going to be hard to get people to accept these results”, one member of the electoral commission told AFP, asking not to be named.
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Former colonial power France said on Thursday it was “extremely concerned” about post-election violence in Gabon and urged all sides to exercise “maximum restraint”.
