Washington DC April 25, a group of Gambians mostly from the Washington
Metropolitan Area, staged a demonstration at The Gambian embassy. In the wake
of the student demonstration in The Gambia, which left 12 dead including a
Red Cross volunteer and scores wounded, Gambians in the diaspora have been
expressing their disgust and total outrage in the form of petitions, protest
marches, telephone calls to condemn the atrocities committed by the Jammeh
administration. 32 Gambians, including 4 from Georgia, 1 from North Carolina,
and 1 from California participated in todays protest.
At the beginning of the protest, 2 Secret Service Agents ( from the uniform
division ) on scooters asked how long we planned to stay and then they helped
themselves with coffee and donuts and took position watching our every move.
It was cold and raining ' cats and dogs ' , but we stood our ground, formed a
circle and chanting for an hour, exposing " His Holiness's " regime or
whatever is left of it and then 22 of us went upstairs to deliver a petition
and to seek an audience with Ambassador Bojang.
Approximately 12:05 pm, we entered suite 1000 and asked to speak to the
Ambassador. Consular Juwara emerged and led us to the conference room.
Needless to say, it was a ' full house ' . According to Mr. Juwara,
Ambassador Bojang was out attending a book fair. Barely 5 mins. into the
meeting before you could say " PA SEY ", the Feds ( secret service agents ) a
dozen of them appeared everywhere. After a word with the embassy officials,
they stood patiently in the receptionist's office. Apart from the exhange of
words between a protestor and the commanding officer ( a lady ), both sides
exercised a great deal of restraint ------- in total contrast to what
happened in The Gambia. All the speakers condemned in very strong terms, the
Jammeh administration for its poor Human Rights record, most notably the
recent student massacre. Mr. Juwara was informed of our intention to occupy
and disrupt all services in the embassy unless and until we meet with the
Ambassador. That we were ready to be arrested and charged with a misdemeanour
( punishable by a fine of $ 50.00 ). An hour into the meeting with Consular
Juwara, Ambassador Bojang was seen talking to the Feds. Mr. Juwara then
excused himself to talk to Mr. Bojang or what I'd call a 3 min. briefing.
Both men then came to the conference room. We re-iterated our position : That
we came to demonstrate our solidarity and support for GAMSU; That our
petition be transmitted in its entirety.
The meeting with ' His Excellency ' was raucous at some point as tempers
flared, but it ended peacefully. Ambassador Bojang was given our petition and
he promised to follow " Protocol " and send it immediately.
The turnout was good ( 32 ). We had anticipated a larger crowd, but due to
the inclement weather condition, many thought the demonstration was
cancelled. Thank God, we weren't out there to vote, but to deliver a message.
Hence, our " friends " on the other side can't down play the significance of
the protest by playing the numbers game. During the meeting, a gentleman
sitting next to me using his cell phone, called his wife's doctor to re -
schedule an appointment. He said succinctly, " This's history in the making
and I wouldn't want to miss a minute ... Coming here is the least I could do.
The real Jambarrs are in The Gambia ".
Musa.
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