Four protesters killed in Cameroon clashes as opposition claims election victory ahead of official results announcement
DOUALA: Four people died during clashes between security forces and supporters of a Cameroonian opposition leader who claims victory in recent presidential elections.
Regional governor Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua confirmed the deaths ahead of Monday’s official results announcement.
Opposition leader Issa Tchiroma had called for peaceful marches despite a ban on public gatherings before the election results.
Tchiroma claims he won 54.8% of the vote against President Paul Biya’s 43-year rule.
Most analysts expect 92-year-old Biya to win an eighth term in a system critics describe as increasingly rigged.
The regional governor stated demonstrators attacked a gendarmerie brigade and police stations in two Douala districts.
He added that several security force members sustained injuries during the clashes.
Police earlier fired teargas to disperse hundreds of people in Tchiroma’s northern stronghold of Garoua.
Activists there carried Cameroonian flags and banners reading “Tchiroma 2025” while chanting “Goodbye Paul Biya, Tchiroma is coming”.
Dozens of supporters have gathered for several days around the opposition leader’s home.
Tchiroma claimed in a Sunday video that military personnel attempted to take him away.
The protest call received little response in the capital Yaounde amid heavy police presence.
In Douala, an AFP journalist observed dozens gathering near the airport before reported clashes.
They defied the demonstration ban ordered by the department’s prefect.
Movement for Democracy and Interdependence president Djeukam Tchameni and African Movement for New Independence president Anicet Ekane were arrested at their Douala homes on Friday.
A coalition of parties had nominated Tchiroma as the consensus opposition candidate.
Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji stated on Saturday that protests create conditions for a security crisis.
He added they contribute to implementing an insurrectionist project. – AFP
