Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people in Cameroon who, despite a ban on protests, took to the streets on Sunday in support of opposition candidate Issa Tchiromi Bakary, who claims to have won the recent presidential election and called on his supporters to march peacefully.
The Constitutional Court should announce the results of the vote held on October 12 on Monday, and the authorities have banned gatherings until then.
Most analysts expect 92-year-old Paul Biya to win an eighth term in a system that critics see as increasingly rigged during his 43 years in power.
Tchiroma claims to have won 54.8 percent of the vote. At his northern Garoua palace, activists carried Cameroonian flags and banners reading “Tchiroma 2025” and chanted: “Goodbye Paul Biya, Tchiroma is coming.”
After about two hours, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Over several days, dozens of supporters gathered around the home of Tchiroma, who claimed in a video message on Sunday that members of the military had tried to take him away.
In the capital Yaounde, AFP reporters said the call for a protest was apparently not followed due to a heavy police presence.
In the southwestern coastal city of Douala, several dozen people gathered near the airport, despite a ban on demonstrations issued by the department’s prefect, an AFP reporter noted.
Djeukam Tchameni, president of the Movement for Democracy and Interdependence in Cameroon (MDI), and Anicet Ekane, president of the African Movement for the New Independence of Cameroon (Manidem), were arrested on Friday at their homes in Douala, according to a coalition of parties that nominated Tchiroma as a joint opposition candidate.
Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji said on Saturday that the protests were “creating the conditions for a security crisis”.
(Vijesti.ba)
