Cameroon Police Arrest Several Opposition Protestors

Cameroon police at the weekend arrested several opposition party supporters during a demonstration that eventually turned violent in Douala as the crowd tried to hold a public meeting to denounce a government-planned constitutional reform that would allow President, Paul Biya to seek another term of office in 2011.

This rally convened by the Social Democratic Font (SDF), the leader of the parliamentary opposition was held to the backdrop of a political context marked by the government’s decision to ban any public meetings on the entire Littoral province.

According to Jean Michel Nitcheu, the SDF provincial leader and main organizer of the event, many protesters were arrested by the police.

“We organized this peaceful demonstration to denounce the plan of the government and the ruling Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (RDPC) party to change the country’s Constitution to allow the incumbent president to seek a third seven-year term in 2011″.

“Security forces deployed all over the place literally assaulted our militants, who have been severely beaten up”, he added.

The SDF also said other militants had been arrested, which worries the party, as it does not know exactly how many of them are in the hands of the police”. The police station of the 8th district of Douala and the gendarmerie brigade of Nylon have later confirmed those arrests, adding the arrested militants are in police custody for questioning.

Last weekend, a similar march of the opposition held in Douala at the behest of the country’s oldest political party, the Cameroon Peoples’ Union of (UPC) had been severely disrupted.

Those demonstrations are held amidst political bickering between the opposition and the government over ways to improve the country’s electoral laws.

Source African Press Agency

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