Anyone wondering why people like myself dislike the AFRC govt, should read
this story and multiply it by thousands. A govt that creates a climate where
anyone in uniform can take the law into his or her hands w/ impunity
deserves to be thrown out.

The tragedy of Gambian life is that stories like this are treated as if
they're normal. How can policemen savagely attack and beat a small boy for
no apparent reason. Where is the public out-cry or similar protest? The sad
fact is, unless the victim is a blood relative, most Gambians simply won't
bat an eye lid. What a shame!

Saul.


>From: saiks samateh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: NEWS FROM INDEPENDENT
>Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:57:45 PST
>
>A twenty-two year old Gambian school leaver, Fadua Conteh, was beaten by
>police attached to the Tourism Development Area (TDA) and was hospitalised
>as
>a result, according to his father, Mr Ousman Conteh.
>
>Mr Conteh told The Independent that his son was admitted at the Royal
>Victoria
>Hospital Eye Ward to undergo treatment for wounds sustained during the
>beatings. He said doctors were treating damages to his son's left eye.
>
>Mr Conteh described the police attack as 'brutal, unprovoked and
>unjustified'.
>He said that his son had gone to Cape Point to see the general manager of
>the
>Cape Point Hotel, Mr. Ebrima Bojang, to receive some money from his mother
>who
>lives in Sweden.
>
>That was when, according to Fadua, the police stopped him and started
>beating
>him with a hard water hose.
>
>The police were very brutal and unfriendly when I went to the Cape Point
>Police station to enquire as to why my boy was brutalised,' Mr Conteh said.
>
>He said he then went to the Bakau Police station and complained to the
>Officer
>in Charge, Inspector Sanneh. The officer expressed regret at the action and
>took Fadua to the Bakau dispensary for treatment.
>
>'I later took my son to RVH for better treatment. My boy was beaten at
>about
>midday and he only received proper treatment at about 5pm,' he said.
>
>The concerned father was outraged, 'my boy really suffered and is still
>suffering. He is not a bumster or a thief. He has just left school, why
>should
>he be brutalised?'
>
>Mr. Conteh said he has decided to take the police to court for damages done
>to
>his son.'Even my boy is not ready for compromise,' Conteh said.Meanwhile,
>this
>paper has been reliably informed that Fadua was early last week discharged
>from the RVH..
>
>
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