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Mob Violence by the Demonstrators

Human Rights Watch documented a few incidents of mob violence involving demonstrators armed with clubs, rocks, bricks, machetes, and firearms, including the brutal killing of two policemen. The incidents documented below occurred in the opposition stronghold of Abobo on March 25, which was one of the suburbs where the security forces were implicated in having used excessive and disproportionate force against the demonstrators.

According to the local police commissioner, a unit of sixteen armed policemen was dispatched that morning to prevent the marchers from proceeding to central Abobo. At around 10:00 a.m., the policemen were overwhelmed by a large crowd of several hundred demonstrators and then ran and hid in nearby houses. The demonstrators pursued the policemen, one of whom was already wounded. Two were murdered with machetes, bricks and rocks, and later mutilated, and six others were severely beaten and wounded with firearms, machetes and rocks. Neighbors who tried to hide them were beaten and their houses looted and severely damaged by the mob.²⁹

Staff Sergeants Allou N’Goran and Tanou Yao, who were both injured with rocks and machetes during the incident, recognized many of those involved in the attack. They heard them saying the attack was a way of settling scores with corrupt police who routinely extorted money from the local population.³⁰ A resident of the house in which one of the police officers was killed described the events:

Around 10:00 a.m., I was home with the children and my husband was at the door of the house. There were eleven police deployed at the roadblock on the road facing our house. Then, a crowd of around 300 started to gather and stormed the roadblock. Some of the marchers were talking about settling scores with police officers they accused of extortion. The marchers had machetes, wooden clubs, knives, and rocks. Three policemen took refuge in my house. Soon the marchers broke into my courtyard, then into my house. They said they were going to burn the house. We hid one of the policemen in the bedroom under the bed. Then, the demonstrators entered in the living room and started beating up the other two policemen who were with us in the living room. They killed one with rocks and machetes and took his gun and uniform. Then they dragged his body out to the road. They wanted to burn him. The other policeman was severely beaten up and left for dead. He was in a coma.  They broke our windows, doors and furniture, and looted many of our belongings. When the police arrived, the marchers were all gone.³¹

An apartment building designated for the families of local gendarmes was attacked by demonstrators who, according to witnesses, believed that someone inside the building was responsible for the death of a demonstrator. Witnesses claimed there were no gendarmes present when the attack took place. One particularly brutal attack took place against two elderly Nigerian women:

On the morning of March 25, around 10:00, I was with my co-wife inside our apartment when we heard screams from a crowd. Quickly, the demonstrators started throwing stones at the windows of our building. They were very numerous. Then, they broke our doors and forced into the houses. My co-wife and I locked ourselves in our apartment. The young people threatened to burn the building if we did not open the door. Then, over ten of them broke down the door to my apartment. They carried machetes and wooden clubs. They stole all the money I had, about 700,000 CFA. They threatened me and struck me in the neck with a machete. They stole everything: TV, suitcases, food, including live animals. They attacked defenseless women. My husband is in Nigeria, where he is a trader. There were no men in the building at the time of the attack, only women and children. The police later came to our rescue and took us to shelter at their barracks. We returned to the building the next day.”³²

At least five victims of this assault said that as gendarmes were in the process of evacuating the residents of the building, armed demonstrators fired on them and that a short exchange of gunfire took place. A witness explained:

I was home, on the 2^nd floor during the events. They started throwing rocks at the façade and breaking doors. A rock hit me in the chest while I was watching from a window. Then I hid with three of my kids in a closet. My husband was in bed then as he was sick that day. I saw that they had machetes and wooden clubs with them. During the evacuation by the police, the demonstrators fired at the convoy. The police fired back and shootings followed. It was like a war. Someone threw a grenade, but I do not know who, and there was a tank that came to the area. We then were all evacuated to the Gendarmerie headquarters in Abobo.W³³