Six people including two members of parliament and a police officer have been injured in a military crackdown on a demonstration against the nomination of a new Prime Minister in Guinea Bissau.
On May 26, 2016 there was a spontaneous invasion of the forecourt of the Presidential Palace by a crowd protesting against President Jose Mario Vaz’s nomination of one Baciro Dja as Prime Minister.
According MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea Bissau, the military officers who were on the scene to ensure calm rather attacked the peaceful protesters with cudgels and their bare fists, and several people were injured by the direct attack or in the ensuing stampede. Three of the injured are in critical condition.
The MFWA condemns the use of the military force against the peaceful civilian protest. The Guinea Bissau constitution guarantees freedom of assembly and the military must respect and fulfil that right to citizens. We are calling on the military hierarchy to investigate the matter and punish the officers who took the law into their own hands.
