Outcry in Guinea over police ‘human shield’ video
>>CONAKRY: Police in the West African state of Guinea are facing a storm of criticism over a viral video that apparently showed them using a woman as a human shield against stone-throwing protesters.
The video, whose source cannot be independently verified but whose authenticity has not been contested, spread fast on social media late on Wednesday. The footage gives the location as the district of Wanindara. It shows four helmeted policemen facing young protestors throwing stones. One of the police moves in front of the protesters, pushing a woman in front of him, apparently against her will.
After an exchange of stones and antiriot projectiles, the police suddenly fall back. The police officer grabs the woman under his arm and after a few metres appears to be dragging her along the ground. The video has notched up several hundred thousand views and triggered a wave of online attacks on security forces.
Gen Ansoumane Baffoe Camara, director-general of Guinea’s national police force, said the main figure in the video had been arrested and “will answer for his actions”. The woman in the video, Fatoumata Bah, said she was injured in the incident and went to the hospital for treatment and then went home. Ms Bah, the mother of five, says the police searched her, shoved her and threw her to the ground. Young protesters recorded the incident, she said. “Today, I’m in a lot of pain. My right foot is sprained and I have scratches on almost all of my legs,” she said. “It was an insult to my dignity.”
Police presented the alleged perpetrator, Brig Mamadou Lamarana Bah, who is unrelated to the victim, to reporters after his arrest. He claimed she had been supplying stones to the protesters, but that he had grabbed her to protect her. “I swear before God, I never wanted to hurt her, it was just to save her.”
Senior police officials said there was no doubt he had been sheltering behind the woman. Guinea has been battered by months of political turmoil, triggered by suspicions that President Alpha Conde, 81, wants to change the constitution to stay in power. At least 28 civilians and one gendarme have died. The National Front for the Defence for the Constitution, which is organising the protests, led the criticism on social media.