INDEPENDENCE DEMANDS
Cameroon uses force to paralyse English regions
Buea/Bamenda, Cameroon — Cameroon deployed heavily armed police and soldiers across the nation’s restless English-speaking regions on Sunday to block protests called by activists, including groups demanding independence, witnesses said. The demonstrations, timed to take place on the anniversary of Anglophone Cameroon’s independence from Britain, came as the movement against perceived marginalisation by the Francophone-dominated government gathered pace. The protests, which began late in 2016, have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya’s 35-year rule. Businesses were shut in the regions’ main cities, Buea and Bamenda, where military helicopters circled overhead. The security deployment included troops from the Cameroonian army’s Rapid Intervention Brigade, a unit that typically fights Islamist Boko Haram militants. In Buea, police and soldiers rushed to the edge of the city early on Sunday and deployed water cannons to block a group of marchers who were arrivin...
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