Four people have been killed in clashes in Cameroon before the announcement of the results of elections held on October 12.
Supporters of opposition leader Issa Tchiroma faced-off against security forces as they rallied on Sunday despite a ban on gatherings, with results due to be announced on Monday.
Tchiroma has claimed to have won the vote, but incumbent President Paul Biya is expected to be declared victorious, extending his 43-year hold on power. He called on his supporters to march peacefully on the eve of the announcement.
Tchiroma says he won 54.8 percent, but most analysts expect the 92-year-old Biya to secure an eighth term in a system his critics say has become increasingly rigged.
In Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, the regional governor said demonstrators “attacked” a gendarmerie brigade and police stations in two districts on Sunday.
“Four people unfortunately lost their lives,” said Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, adding that several members of the security forces were also injured.
Earlier on Sunday, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people in Tchiroma’s northern stronghold of Garoua, where activists carried Cameroonian flags and banners reading “Tchiroma 2025” and chanted “Goodbye Paul Biya, Tchiroma is coming”.
For several days, dozens of supporters have gathered around the home of the opposition leader, who claimed in a video on Sunday that military personnel had tried to take him away.
Significant disruptions to internet access have also been reported in recent days, which, according to monitor NetBlocks, “may limit coverage of events on the ground”.
Minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, said on Saturday that the protests “create the conditions for a security crisis” and contribute to “the implementation of an insurrectionist project”.