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Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 20:29:55 EDT
Subject: Opposition Denounces Gov't Butchery
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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: GAMBIAN OPPOSITION CONDEMNS "BUTCHERY" AS GOV'T BLAMES
STUDENTS
Agence France Presse Intl. (AFM), Apr 13, 2000, 251 words


ATTENTION - NEW SERIES /// Gambia's opposition United Democratic Party (UDP)
condemned Thursday the "intolerable butchery" of recent unrest that left 14
dead as the government blamed the violence on the national students union.

The UDP demanded that an inquiry be opened into the violence that flared
earlier this week during a student protest over the death of fellow student
Ebrima Barry.

The students said Barry was tortured, while an official autopsy concluded he
died of natural causes.

Police shot at students as they pillaged houses, vandalised vehicles and
government buildings and set fire to police buildings and fire engines.

The UDP "firmly condemns the cruel assassination of these unarmed and
defenceless students who were only exercising their legitimate and
constitutional rights," the party said in a statement sent to AFP.

Earlier Thursday, Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy blamed the violence on the
national students union GAMSU and "other unscrupulous people".

"It is confirmed that in fact the shooting started from the demonstrators
themselves, since the security forces at the time only had blank ammunition,
tear gas and batons," she said, without clarifying whether security forces
used real bullets once the violence had started.

Meanwhile, Gambia's Daily Observer newspaper reported Thursday that UDP
member Buba Samura was arrested on Monday during the violence for allegedly
encouraging the demonstrators.

His family still do not know where he is being held, the newspaper reported,
adding that some of those arrested during the violence have since been
released.

The health ministry reported that 96 people were registered by hospitals as
having been injured in the unrest.

Dozens of students have since fled from Bara into Senegal to avoid being
arrested, witnesses in Senegal said.