Bar GA President Condemns Police Brutality Against Common Law Lawyers

Douala, Cameroon—The president of the General Assembly of the Cameroon Bar Association, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle has condemned ‘in the hardest of terms’ the harassment and brutalization of Advocates of the North West and South West Regions who have been in the streets demonstrating against what they term government’s neglect of their grievances.

Nico Halle says police brutality against lawyers is despicable

Anti-riot police and gendarmerie forces on Friday brutally injured about a dozen protesting English speaking lawyers in the Southwest region.

“This situation is unwholesome and despicable. I express my sympathy to those who were hurt in any way. The molestation of one Advocate in Cameroon is the molestation of all advocates,” Ntumfor Nico Halle said on Monday, ‘praying God’ to cause authorities in the country to open dialogue for a peaceful solution.

Earlier on Saturday, the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) expressed outraged at the use of force by security agencies to disperse the unarmed protesting lawyers.

“As journalists, we do not condone this kind of lawlessness from those who are called upon to maintain peace and order in the country and the perpetrators should not be allowed to evade justice,” CAMASEJ national president, Simon Lyonga CAMASEJ national president said in the statement.

The lawyers who started their work boycott on October 11 have vowed to continue their peaceful demos until their grievances are addressed.

By Ndi Eugene Ndi in Yaoundé