36 Negro Mauritanians were arrested on Saturday (November 28th) as they tried to march on the official platform where President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was taking part in a military parade marking the 60th anniversary of national independence. For part of the Negro-African community, the national festival has been synonymous with grief since November 28, 1990, when 28 black officers were executed at a military base in Inal, near Nouadhibou, the economic capital. Every year, this sad anniversary is celebrated by the parents of the victims.
as reported from Nouakchott, Salem Mejbour Salem
The organizers of this annual demonstration claim to have been abused by the police forces when they wanted to go peacefully against the official platform to draw the attention of the head of state, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, to the lack of justice in the Inal military base case.
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Alassane Dia, a member of the organization, describes the events: “The repression was violent. The police attacked the demonstrators, tore their banners, beating many of them and arrested many of them. ”
The failed march had several goals. “It was intended to protest against impunity, to demand the repeal of the 1993 Amnesty Act, which acquits the crimes committed between 1989 and 1991, and to demand that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice,” Alassane Dia explained. .
Members of the collective were not allowed to visit their arrested comrades, according to AlassaneDia. RFI tried to reach the Mauritanian authorities for comment on these arrests, but without success.
►Listen too: Mauritania: young people’s view of the country, 60 years after independence
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