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CAMEROON

Swiss summon Cameroon ambassador over ‘unacceptable’ journalist attack

Switzerland said Friday it had summoned Cameroon's ambassador over an "unacceptable" attack on a journalist in Geneva by men believed to be part of Cameroonian President Paul Biya's security detail.

Published: 29 June 2019 09:57 CEST
Swiss summon Cameroon ambassador over 'unacceptable' journalist attack
Cameroonian President Paul Biya. File photo: AFP

“Diplomatic procedures have been launched… Cameroon's ambassador was summoned in Bern and the foreign ministry informed him that such incidents are unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesman Georg Farago told AFP in an email.

“Freedom of the press is protected and must be respected,” he added.

The ambassador was summoned on Thursday, a day after a journalist with the RTS broadcaster, Adrien Krause, was reportedly assaulted by a group of men outside Geneva's luxury Intercontinental hotel on Wednesday.

He had been filming a clash between around a dozen demonstrators against Cameroon's 86-year-old president Paul Biya, who has reportedly been staying at the hotel since Sunday, and men believed to be the president's security detail, RTS reported.

The likely Cameroonian security agents suddenly attacked Krause, immobilising him and grabbing the bag containing most of his professional equipment, and also took his phone and wallet, it said.

After Geneva's diplomatic police got involved and Krause filed a complaint over the assault, his property was returned to him.

Neither the Swiss foreign ministry nor Geneva police would confirm the identity of the attackers.

Farago meanwhile rejected reports that Biya's security staff might enjoy diplomatic immunity.

“The people accompanying the president do not have any particular status and must respect Swiss law,” he said.

“Switzerland recalls that it is very attached to freedom of expression and of the press, and to the respect of the rules in public spaces,” he added.

Wednesday’s event came a day after some 40 protestors entered the Intercontinental and reportedly scuffled with Biya's security staff in the lobby.

A large demonstration against Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is also scheduled to take place in Geneva on Saturday.

The country's embassy in Bern warned earlier this week that Cameroonian nationals living in various European countries were planning a “violent … protest against the presence of the Head of State, His Excellence Paul Biya, in Switzerland.”

“The embassy calls on the Cameroonian community in Switzerland and in neighbouring countries to turn their back on such demonstrations, which for some time have been an expression of hatred, violence and tribalism, which are all contrary to patriotism and love of Cameroon,” it said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Iran summons Swiss envoy over US arrest of journalist

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CAMEROON

Swiss police fire water cannon, tear gas at Cameroon protesters

Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon's president.

Published: 30 June 2019 07:23 CEST
Swiss police fire water cannon, tear gas at Cameroon protesters
Photo: AFP

Parts of the “city of peace” resembled a war zone, with police wearing gas masks and black riot gear chasing demonstrators through Geneva's international neighbourhood, shooting tear gas canisters into the gardens of high-end residences where some tried to hide.

About 250 demonstrators, many dressed in military-style garb and draped in Cameroonian flags, initially gathered on a square outside the UN, with laughter and loud music creating a festive atmosphere.

But things turned violent when the crowd suddenly began running towards Biya's hotel, about 500 metres away, chanting “Biya Assassin!” and “Switzerland Complicit” as they attempted to break through tight lines of police backed up by armoured vehicles.


Photo: AFP

Police used pepper spray and turned a water cannon, mounted on top of a tank, on the demonstrators.

An AFP reporter witnessed police beating and kicking a protester on the ground.

Biya, 86, “has run his dictatorship for nearly half a century,” said rally co-organiser Robert Wanto, a Cameroonian national who has lived in exile for three decades.

“We are here to demand that Cameroon be allowed to enter the modern democratic era,” he told AFP.

Cameroonian nationals exiled in a range of countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Britain and Denmark were said to have come to take part in the demonstration.

Police had to intervene to rescue a Biya supporter, who walked into the crowd wearing a dress with pictures of the president and shouting insults at the protestors, prompting a large group to attack her.

Geneva police told AFP the demonstration was authorised, but limited to the square outside the UN.

They were not granted permission to march to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel where Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is believed to have been staying since Sunday.

But Wanto told AFP before the protest the demonstrators had given Biya an “ultimatum” to leave, and would march on the hotel if he remained there.

He pointed out that Biya had made it a habit to stay at the pricy Intercontinental during long visits to Switzerland, where he reportedly comes for medical treatment.

“He thinks it is OK to come here and spend billions of our money when our country is economically sick,” Wanto said.


Photo: AFP

Another protestor, 43-year-old Axille Fofou who is exiled in France, said she had come to voice her “indignation” at the man who has “taken the Cameroonian people hostage”.

“In Cameroon, people have nothing, and he is here, spending tens of thousands of euros (dollars) each day. It is unacceptable,” she told AFP.

“Switzerland should not support this dictator. By letting him stay here, they are complicit in horrible crimes,” she added.

Outside the hotel, dozens of suit-clad men believed to be part of the president's security detail stood guard.

Over the past week, there have already been several scuffles with small numbers of demonstrators outside the hotel and even inside the lobby.

An attack on a Swiss journalist by Biya's supposed security staff sparked a diplomatic incident, prompting the Swiss government to summon Cameroon's ambassador in Bern on Thursday.

“The dictator must be senile to want to transport the violence he unleashes on his country on a daily basis to the soil of a democratic country,” Wanto said.

Cameroon, a former French colony, has faced a succession of crises and is wracked by a deadly conflict between separatists and government forces in its English-speaking west.

Opposition leaders have faced mass arrests, and rights groups claim detainees are tortured and many disappear.

READ ALSO: Swiss summon Cameroon ambassador over 'unacceptable' journalist attack

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