Protests turn violent in Cameroon

Record ID: 76271

  • Title: Protests turn violent in Cameroon
  • Date: 8th December 2016
  • Summary: BAMENDA, CAMEROON (DECEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAR BURNING OUTSIDE HOSPITAL/ WOMAN POINTING TO BURNING CAR ANTI-RIOT POLICE STANDING ON SIDE OF THE STREET ARMY HELICOPTER HOVERING MEN BY THE FLAGPOLE/ RAISING BLUE AND WHITE FLAG OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF SOUTHERN CAMEROON USED AS A SYMBOL OF THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT RED AND YELLOW CAMEROON FLAG BEING BURNT/ GREEN FLAG BEING PLACED ON TOP POLICE REMOVING BARRICADE
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2016 23:03
  • Keywords: Cameroon protest Bamenda police violence
  • Location: BAMENDA, CAMEROON
  • City: BAMENDA, CAMEROON
  • Country: Cameroon
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015C0ZBD3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Anglophones in Cameroon clashed with the police again Bamenda, in the northwest, on Thursday (December 8) in an ongoing protest against alleged discrimination against minority English-speaking people.
    The police killed at least four people and several were wounded after demonstrators threw stones at police in anger at a meeting by the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC).
    Officers initially tried to scatter the demonstrators using tear gas.
    A Reuters reporter then saw the police open fire on the crowd, which had continued to grow in size.
    Protests first broke out in early November in Bamenda when lawyers and teachers demanded better working conditions in a rare act of defiance against President Paul Biya, 83, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982.
    A car was set alight outside the hospital where separatists burned the Cameroon flag. They then erected the blue and white flag of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroon used as a symbol of the independence movement.
    The government has initiated several attempts to hold a dialogue with the protesters who have hardened their demands for separation from Francophone Cameroon.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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