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| Demonstrators march during a protest against perceived discrimination in favour of the country’s francophone majority on September 22, 2017 in Bamenda, the main town in northwest Cameroon and an anglophone hub.<br />Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets in English-speaking parts of Cameroon in protest at perceived discrimination in favour of the country’s francophone majority, concurring sources said. English-speakers have long complained that Cameroon’s wealth has not been shared out fairly and that they suffer discrimination. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER |
“Apart from the material damage, precise enquiries have been opened by judicial authorities on the toll,” Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said on state radio.
According to an AFP tally, 14 people died in violence in the run-up to the symbolic October 1 declaration of independence of Ambazonia, the name of the state the separatists want to create.
However Amnesty International has given a toll of 17.
Cameroonian authorities have said that security forces did not open fire during the demonstrations.
Assomo had on Thursday visited Buea, the main city in the English-speaking southwest region, where he headed a meeting to review security.
Cameroon’s anglophone-francophone rift dates back to 1961 when the British-administered Southern Cameroons united with Cameroon after its independence from France in 1960.
The English speakers complain they have suffered decades of economic inequality and social injustice at the hands of the French-speaking majority.
Anglophones account for about a fifth of the 22 million population.
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