Mass arrests followed Cameroon’s post-election violence in which 16 people died, minister says – Winnipeg Free Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Authorities in Cameroon said 800 people were arrested and 16 killed during clashes with security forces over the election victory of President Paul Biya. It is the government’s first official comment on the death toll since the unrest began.

Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said security forces killed 13 protesters in the economic hub of Douala, and three others in the North Region during the violence.

However, opposition figures estimate the death toll at 55, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday.

“The violent crackdown on protesters and ordinary citizens across Cameroon lays bare a deepening pattern of repression that casts a dark cloud over the election” Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report