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On Friday, June 28, 2024, members of the National Coordination of Citizens’ Observation gathered a few meters from the French Embassy to demand its relocation. To hear some members of the Coordination describe it, it was a question of “purely and simply expelling them”. They believe that the French Embassy next to the Faso presidential palace constitutes a threat to the Faso president.
Around 10:30 a.m., the crowd that had gathered at the slightly further roundabout at the United Nations began to march toward the French Embassy near the Faso presidential palace. They passed the first traffic light, then the second. At the third light, right at the intersection, a roadblock set up by the presidential guard stopped the demonstrators’ advance. Pickup trucks on both sides were filled with Republican Security Company (CRS) police. The group, composed of the people responsible for coordination, was moving forward. Let’s have a few minutes of discussion. “We want to go to the embassy. We don’t want the embassy representatives to come here,” one leader said to the head of the CRS team.
Fleeing protesters
The crowd gathered a little further away was already growing impatient. And faced with the CRS’s flat refusal to let them pass, the demonstrators forced their way over the barricades, bypassing the system and reaching the embassy from the right. “Even if we get through the wall, we will go back,” threatened the Vaia. It soon became clear to the journalists covering the demonstrations that the situation was about to deteriorate and that it was necessary to make a “tactical retreat” to be better prepared just in case. Before they could cross the tarmac and retreat towards the Ministry of Security, a sharp command rang out: “Get in the car!” “. Tear gas began to rain. The atmosphere became difficult to breathe. It was a rout. The Vaia and journalists were looking for shelter or a base. The police rushed to the UN roundabout. “Hayii… They just need to stop deflation like that, it’s good!” », behind us, an old woman pleaded in the Moorish language, clearly tired from running. Finally, at the regional customs office, the press was pressed and some demonstrators found shelter to build up their strength before parking their vehicles a little further away.
Protesters blocked the last traffic light in front of the Faso presidential palace
The country is governed
Lassane Sawadogo, coordinator of the Homeland Defense Front and national coordinator of the Citizens’ Watch Association, is among those who have taken refuge in the regional customs administration. “We thank God. I congratulate Comrade Captain Ibrahim Traoré. I congratulate all our leaders. Because the action they took this morning proves to us that there is governance in this country. We are Waya people and we will always be Waya people. We asked for the embassy to move from Kulouba because it faces the position of the Faso presidency,” he declared, his face still haggard, before adding: “You know, we did not ask for permission to go out. It makes sense that we were gassed. Because in a country where people do not have the power to demonstrate, if the authorities do not do it, I am afraid of this government,” he philosophically said.
“We will go out again,” said Lasane Sawadogo
The coordination group has not yet made a final decision, it has only listened to Mr. Sawadogo. “If the authorities and the embassy representatives do not react, we will go out again, even if we will be gassed. Our goal is to let the whole world know that it does not make sense for an embassy to be just a few steps from the presidency of a country. We are going out because the gas is no more powerful than the bullets fired by our soldiers in the bushes,” he warned.
Obisa Juster Meen
Lefaso.net
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