BANGUI (LNC) — During the night of 19 August, near midnight, heavy weaponry were heard in the PK5 district, escalated and spread to other parts of the area.
[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ased on the information considered, it was after a disarming operation lead by gendarmes of the EUFOR-RCA that things went wrong.
Because since the deep crisis occurred in CAR, Muslims from the PK5 district are encircled, threatened by the Anti-Balaka militia gunmen; and at the Yakité deck level, each night, some of Muslims, heavily armed, keep permanent surveillance to ensure the prevention of future attacks.
And that is where it all began, when these men have resisted pressure to disarm.
Things got worse when death of a Muslim had been recorded.
ON WEDNESDAY, ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE
The very next day, hundreds of Muslims wanted to express their rage, carrying remains of the man shot dead the last night with the aim of showing them to the military command of MISCA.
On the way, they were stopped by firing warning shots of gendarmes from the EUFOR-RCA.
Heavily armed French troops joined them, backed by armed ‘Puma’ helicopters (which will be targeted with rockets and artillery).
The “inevitable clash”. Protesters threw stones at the Sangaris Forces, also threw grenades, and even fired anti-tank rockets.
The French fire back left at least 5 people dead and around 40 others wounded, according to what Maurice Banda from the General Hospital in Bangui told LNC.
The French had only 5 wounded, including 3 of them seriously, who were been evacuated to France the very same day.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement said on Wednesday one of its volunteers, Bienvenu Bandios was shot dead while evacuating casualties from PK-5.
Increase of violence in the capital
Poles of tension mushroomed all over Bangui.
A the level of the PK5 shopping centre, in the Béa-Rex area, even in the ‘Castors’ neighbourhood, where demonstraters were protesting, some young Muslims tried to attack a camp of displaced people over there.
This Thursday, a relative calm was observed in the area.
Photo report by: DIASPORA MEDIA
Centrafrique: serious incidents in PK5, the chronology of events Marie-Pierre Coppens BANGUI (LNC) — During the night of 19 August, near midnight, heavy weaponry were heard in the PK5 district, escalated and spread to other parts of the area.
