Leaders
of Gambia’s former ruling Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and
Construction (APRC) party has strongly condemned the recent confrontation
between the party militants and some young people at Busumbala on Wednesday.
The confrontation happened when the APRC
caravan was passing Busumbala from a nationwide rally but the highway was
allegedly blocked by the Busumbala youth carrying cutlasses, knives and stones.
The
party’s interim chairman Fabakary Tombong Jatta; a former majority leader of
the national assembly said police intervention officers who were deployed at
the ground had ordered them go through the bushes, “instead of driving the
Busumbala youth away from the highway.”
Seedy
S.K. Njie, the party’s spokesperson said the Busumbala mob attack on them has
led to destruction of properties including broken car glasses, punctured car
tyres while armed with cutlasses, knives, stones and burnt car tires.
At
least eight APRC militants and three Busumbala youth were reported to have
sustained wounds. One APRC militant was also reportedly stabbed at ‘Kaw’
Junction on their way to Tallinding but the alleged stabber was said to have
run away.
Lamin
Fatty, a resident of Busumbala alleged that the APRC militants first started
the confrontation with provocational statements on President Adama Barrow and
insulting some youth. “When we returned the insults, they attacked us and three
of our people were wounded.”