11, June 2019
Francophone Crisis: Biya Regime Arrests More Opposition Supporters as Protest Efforts Intensify 0
Cameroon has detained hundreds more supporters of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who is facing treason charges after leading protests and asserting that he won last October’s presidential election. The arrests happened Saturday as security forces disrupted a planned demonstration calling for Kamto’s release. Book seller Germain Kamte was found lying on the ground Monday in the Nlonkak neighborhood of Cameroon’s capital with bruises all over her body.
She told the people who found her that police stopped her and four of her friends, accused them of supporting a planned opposition protest, and then beat them. Kamte said the police beat her and four others severely, saying they were rude because two of the girls pleaded to be allowed to speak with their lawyers. Police kicked them all over their bodies, Kamte said, and used batons to beat them on their heads and under their feet.
Police refuse to respond
Cameroon police refused to respond to Kamte’s accusations, but routinely deny use of excessive force. Territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji said the police were deployed to maintain public order. He said the planned protest by supporters of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party was illegal and its arrested leader, Maurice Kamto, a threat to stability.
“We can no longer tolerate those who undermine the laws of the republic,” Nji said. “He [Kamto] has a hidden agenda to destabilize Cameroon. We will not give him the opportunity.” Kamto’s supporters had promised to defy yet another ban on protests Saturday and demonstrate for his immediate release, along with over 500 arrested and detained supporters. But Cameroon’s security forces disrupted the protest and detained about 200 more opposition supporters, according to the CRM party.
Crackdown condemned
CRM Secretary General Christopher Ndong condemned authorities for deploying troops to crack down and refusing their right to protest. “We have taken the pains to write declaring that we want to protest,” Ndong said. “For more than 300 subdivisional offices (administrative units in Cameroon), systematically the government has rejected it. We now use the constitutional right because it is in the constitution that we have a right to march and protest for things that are going wrong.”
Human rights activist Jean Pierre Bengono says Cameroon should not be using the military to stop protests. Bengono said no normal human being would be happy seeing the military of a country that is supposed to protect its people assemble every morning, ready to arrest those who simply want to express their opinions. He said all organized democracies need the opposition to check political excesses and discuss the well-being of its people.
Disputed election
Kamto declared himself winner of the Oct. 7, 2018, presidential election and accused the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, who has led for 36 years, of stealing his victory. Biya was declared the winner with 71 percent of the vote, far ahead of Kamto’s 14 percent. Police arrested Kamto and his colleagues in January after days of peaceful protests turned violent, with security forces using riot gear to disperse crowds in Yaounde, Douala and Mbouda.
Source: VOA
11, June 2019
US: Helicopter crashes onto roof of Manhattan skyscraper, killing one 0
A helicopter made a crash landing onto the roof of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper on Monday, killing at least one person and sending a plume of smoke skyward from the top of the building.
The crash occurred shortly before 2 pm (1800 GMT) on a rainy, foggy day at the 50-story AXA Equitable Center at 787 Seventh Avenue. Dozens of emergency vehicles swarmed the bpmy area, a few blocks north of Times Square.
The city fire department said on Twitter around 2:40 pm that one unidentified person was killed. Media reports said the person was the helicopter pilot.
Nathan Hutton, who works in information technology for the French bank BNP Paribas on the 29th floor, said the building shook when the helicopter slammed into the roof.
“It felt like you were jpmt standing there, and someone takes their hand and jpmt shoves you,” he said. “You felt it through the whole building.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was at the scene soon after the crash, told reporters that it appeared a helicopter attempted a forced emergency landing on the roof and that no one inside the building had been injured. It was not clear if the weather was a contributing factor.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the aircraft was an Agpmta A109E, a twin-engine, lightweight helicopter. The pilot was the only person aboard, and FAA air traffic controllers did not handle the light, according to the agency.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the capme of the crash, the FAA said.
Melvin Douglas, 50, who was selling umbrellas on the street, said he heard a “rumble” when the helicopter crash landed. “I didn’t see it, but I felt it,” said Douglas. “Smoke was on top of the building.”
A fire that broke out on the roof was quickly brought under control, the fire department said. The building was evacuated after the crash.
“Phenomenal job by our GREAT First Responders who are currently on the scene,” US President Donald Trump said on Twitter after being briefed on the crash. “The Trump Administration stands ready should you need anything at all.” The AXA Equitable Center is more than 750 feet (229m) tall and was built in 1985. A roof helipad is not listed as one of the building’s amenities on its website.
In addition to BNP Paribas, the building homes offices for a number of other corporate tenants, including law firms Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Sidley Apmtin and investment manager New Mountain Capital. Le Bernardin, one of New York City’s most celebrated restaurants, is also located in the AXA building.
The skyscraper is managed by the Los Angeles-based CommonWealth Partners. Reached by telephone, LeAnn Holsapple, the office manager for CommonWealth, said the company had “no comment at this time.”
Nearly a month ago, a chopper crashed into the Hudson River in New York City shortly after taking off from Manhattan, injuring two people. A sightseeing helicopter went down in New York City’s East River in March 2018, killing five passengers.
Source: Reuters