That contested vote followed the death of Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, who ruled the oil-rich country for 41 years.
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The parliament building was set ablaze overnight Wednesday into Thursday, as government forces tried to restore order.
Ping has said that his headquarters were attacked in retaliation for the parliament fire on Thursday, and that two people were killed and 19 injured in the raid.
Police reported continued pillaging in outlying districts at midday Thursday.
“We want everyone to see, to tour the city, to witness the level of devastation, destruction, violence organised by certain politicians who do not want to recognise their defeat”, Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said.
France, the European Union, and the United States have called on the authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for the sake of transparency and urged protesters to remain calm. “They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground”, Ping said earlier.
But he declined to give a total number of fatalities, saying “I can not tell you that”.
Ping had been a close ally of Omar Bongo, serving him in ministerial roles and having two children with his daughter, Pascaline, a former Gabonese Foreign Minister herself.
Libreville residents said the internet was cut on Thursday. Protesters had torn down its huge main gate and torched a sentry box at the entrance.
Opposition leader Jean Ping, who is in hiding, told the BBC that his party headquarters had been bombed.
In the capital of Gabon, Libreville, hundreds of people have been arrested and at least three people have died amid protests after the sitting president was declared the victor of last weekend’s disputed election.
The election result, announced on Wednesday, gave Bongo a second seven-year term with 49.8 per cent of the vote to Ping’s 48.2 per cent – a margin of 5,594 votes.
“The Gabonese people deserve a credible electoral process”, he said. “They (the global community) should come and help us against the clan (of Bongo)”, Mr Ping told AFP.
The European Union and Western countries, including the U.S. and France, have also urged calm and called on authorities in the former French colony to show more transparency about the election results.
“Everybody knows that I won the election”, Ping told Reuters, adding that the electoral commission’s figures were based on false documents.
At issue are the results from one province where the results show almost 100 percent voter turnout, with Bongo receiving 95 percent of the votes.
Results from the province showed a turnout of more than 99 percent, compared with a nationwide turnout of 59.46 percent.
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“It’s going to be hard to get people to accept these results”, one member of the electoral commission said, asking not to be named.
