Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon's president. Parts of the "city of peace" resembled a war zone, with police wearing gas masks and black riot gear chasing demonstrators through Geneva's international neighbourhood, shooting tear gas canisters into the gardens of high-end residences where some tried to hide.
About 250 demonstrators, many dressed in military-style garb and draped in Cameroonian flags, initially gathered on a square outside the UN, with laughter and loud music creating a festive atmosphere. But things turned violent when the crowd suddenly began running towards Biya's hotel, about 500 metres (1,600 feet) away, chanting "Biya Assassin!" and "Switzerland Complicit" as they attempted to break through tight lines of police backed up by armoured vehicles.
Police used pepper spray and turned a water cannon, mounted on top of a tank, on the demonstrators. An AFP reporter witnessed police beating and kicking a protester on the ground. Biya, 86, "has run his dictatorship for nearly half a century," said rally co-organiser Robert Wanto, a Cameroonian national who has lived in exile for three decades.
"We are here to demand that Cameroon be allowed to enter the modern democratic era," he told AFP. Cameroonian nationals exiled in a range of countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Britain and Denmark were said to have come to take part in the demonstration.