The brutal crackdown on demonstrations in Guinea has intensified with police fatally shooting two people amidst heightened political and social agitations.
Alimou Diallo and Mamadou Bela Baldé, aged 26 and 30 respectively, died on November 7 from bullet wounds as the protestors tried to defy a government ban to embark on a demonstration on November 8, 2018.
On the same day, a police officer, Brigadier-in-Chief Bakary Camara, was assaulted physically by the angry demonstrators. He also died on November 8 as result of the attack.
The opposition led by Cellou Dalein Diallo, President of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), had called for a stay-at-home protest on November 7 and a street demonstration on November 8 to protest against the government’s violation of agreements on the installation of elected local and communal councils. The accord was reached to end disputes arising out of the local elections of February 4.
The government responded to the opposition defiance by unleashing the police on the protestors leading to the death of the two people. The latest incident brings to five the number of protestors killed by security forces in Guinea in two months.
On 30 October, one person was shot dead as the police tried to quell a similar protest. Earlier on September 5, two people were killed by police during demonstrations in the cities of Boke and Kamsar over cuts in power and water supply.
MFWA expresses its deep concern over the escalating use of violence by Guinea’s security forces against peaceful demonstrators in the country.
The MFWA urges the authorities to investigate these incidents of deaths during crowd control by the security forces and to punish the perpetrators of such abuses against the civilian population. We also call on the authorities and organisers of demonstrations to observe discipline and respect the rights of other citizens avoid any excesses.
