HRW Slams Cameroon Killings, Arrests After Disputed Vote

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A protester waving a Cameroonian flag approaches Cameroonian police officers as they gather in Garoua on October 26, 2025. Several hundred Cameroonians took to the streets in response to opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary's call for victory in the presidential election, ahead of the Constitutional Council's announcement of the official results on October 27, 2025. Rallies were banned and movement restricted in most cities across the country until the president-elect's announcement. In the streets of Garoua (north), the stronghold of Issa Tchiroma, who claimed 54.8% of the vote compared to 31.3% for incumbent Paul Biya, activists carrying Cameroonian flags and "Tchiroma 2025" banners chanted "Goodbye Paul Biya, Tchiroma is coming." The gendarmerie, present in large numbers along the city's strategic axes, has not yet dispersed any people. For several days, dozens of them have been standing guard around Tchiroma's house, who claimed in a video on Sunday that soldiers attempted to "extricate him from [his] house" on Sunday morning. (Photo by AFP)
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Human Rights Watch has criticised Cameroon for carrying out killings and widespread arrests to put down protests against the contested re-election of 92-year-old President Paul Biya.

Since Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, was proclaimed the victor of the October 12 vote, the central African country has been shaken by demonstrations, whose repression saw the deaths of several protesters.

Opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a former Biya ally who has since turned against the veteran leader, insists that he is the rightful winner and has urged his supporters to continue rallying and engage in civil disobedience.

In a statement on Tuesday, HRW said that while some protests “were violent” and saw incidents of crowds assaulting the police, the Cameroonian authorities responded to the demonstrations through the use of “lethal force and mass arrests of protesters and other citizens”.

At least six of those arrested are being held at the State Defence Secretariat in the capital Yaounde, a detention facility where the rights watchdog “has documented routine use of torture”.

“The violent crackdown on protesters and ordinary citizens across Cameroon lays bare a deepening pattern of repression that casts a dark cloud over the election,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior HRW Africa researcher.

“The authorities should immediately rein in, investigate, and prosecute responsible security forces, and all political leaders should call on their supporters to reject violence.”

“The Cameroonian authorities should immediately release all those held in connection with peaceful protests or for peaceful expression of opposition to the government,” Allegrozzi added, urging the authorities to give protesters involved in violence a fair trial.

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