Bamenda Enjoying Relative Peace Following Protests Against Accident Involving Police Van
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| Bike Riders Protesting At Ngeng's Junction In Bamenda |
By Raymond Dingana
An atmosphere of what many say is relative calm has replaced the tensed atmosphere that engulfed Bamenda and it's environs following an incident many feared would plunged the town in to chaos.
In the early hours of Wednesday April 12,2023,the Bamenda Food Market experienced a tensed situation.
This was after what eye witnesses described as a Police Van hit a bike that was descending the Fish Pond Hill carrying a lady.
Reports say the bike rider died on the spot while the lady she was transporting was rushed to a health facility though other reports are indicating that the woman also died.
According to a witness, the officers didn't show any signs of regret after realising what they had done.
They spoke to us as if the victims deserved what happened to them. Their behavior was inhumaine, instead of seeing how the injured could be rushed to the hospital,
said a witness who opted for anonymity.
The town became tensed when the body of the young man was taken from the accident scene and paraded along major streets of Bamenda with many joining the protest along the way.
They passed through Food Market, Commercial Avenue, Ngeng's Junction where they were accompanied by hundereds of bikers and other sympathisers from Nkwen as they continued to Up Station Bamenda to report to the administration what happened to their colleague.
At this juncture, those familiar with the story said the numerous security checkpoints which have become widespread in Bamenda disappeared.
I only realised that forces of law and order stationed along the stretch used by the protesters suddenly disappeared. It was difficult to even say how it happened,
said Stanley whose car was almost vandalised at Ngeng's Junction.
Mezam SDO Tries To Broker Peace, Invites Representatives Of Commercial Bikers To A Meeting
At Up Station, the angry motorcyclists were addressed by the Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Simon Emile Mooh who assured them that investigations would be opened to get to the root of the matter. He also invited the riders to designate five persons to have a talk with him on Thursday April 13.
Bikers Not Satisfied With Emile Mooh's Outings
Many of the motorcyclists could be heard grumbling when it was announced that the matter was going to be investigated, a member of the civil society who was at Up Station told drayinfos.
Some of the protesters drayinfos.com spoke to said they appreciate the holding of the meeting as it would give them an opportunity to table their complaints and call on the authorities to tell soldiers to stop targetting them.
We are now targets as if to say we are the problem. Investigations have been opened on many crimes against civilians, what has been the end result? Hope you know what happened when a young girl was killed at mile 2 junction, where is the officer the Governor said was arrested?
he asked.
We also gathered that the dead body of the biker was later seized by uniform officers and preserved at the Regional Hospital Mortuary in Bamenda.
Wednesday's incident has only added to the many that have gone unreported. A journalist in the North West Region of Cameroon said one of his relatives is still undergoing medical observations after she was hit by an armored car some months back on a motor bike in Ntarinkon, a quarter in Bamenda II.
With all these happenings and the population yet to see justice being done, there are fears that such actions would rather shake the fragile peace that is prevalent in Bamenda and it's environs.
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