Kimeng Mary, a 45-year-old Anglophone internally displaced person (IDP), tragically died after inhaling tear gas used by police and gendarmes during a protest against the demolition of houses in Japoma, Douala, located in the Littoral region.
Local residents protested the Douala City Council’s decision to demolish houses, prompting the intervention of law enforcement. Authorities used force and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
Mary, according to information gathered by MMI, inhaled the tear gas, which triggered an asthmatic attack. She was rushed to a nearby health facility but unfortunately, did not survive.
Mary was a mother of five and a native of Oku in Bui, a part of the conflict-ridden North West region. She had fled with her family due to the escalation of the armed conflict in the area.
Reports indicate that over 70 houses were demolished, leaving many inhabitants, primarily Anglophone internally displaced persons (IDPs), homeless.
“With the crisis in the North West and South West regions, we came to Douala knowing that the government has put in place everything to protect us as IDPs. When we came here, Manga Bell gave us land. We stayed here for years and today they came and destroyed everything without any reason,” lamented one man who was rendered homeless by the demolitions.
Another victim, despite having his land certificate, expressed his distress and uncertainty about the future. “I think we are in one country, or am I a foreigner? Why will they inflict this suffering on a Cameroonian like me? Where will I get money for another house?” he bemoaned.
