Police confine Cameroon opposition leader at home

Police confine Cameroon opposition leader at home

Cameroon’s opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has been confined at home for planning Tuesday’s anti-government protests.

A video showing police vehicles outside the leader’s house has been shared online.

The leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) told Voice of America that he was neither beaten nor detained, but feared that he would be arrested if he stepped out of his guarded house.

Mr Kamto called for protests to demand an end to the Anglophone crisis and a reform of the electoral code.

Demonstrators were dispersed by police in major towns and the opposition says one person was killed and several injured.

Mr Kamto on Wednesday tweeted wishes of a speedy recovery to those injured and termed Tuesday’s protests as “a resounding success”.

He said the protests were a powerful force and that they will continue until President Paul Biya resigns.

Police had on Tuesday used tear gas and water cannon to dispersed up a protest by hundreds of people in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala calling for an end to bloodshed in the country’s anglophone regions.

Several parties, including that of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, had called for “peaceful marches” against President Paul Biya, 87, who has ruled the central African country with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

The marchers called for a ceasefire and negotiations to end a long-running conflict between anglophone separatists and security forces that has claimed more than 3,000 lives.

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