By David Atangana
Regret was the outcome of a musical concert organized by one of Cameroon’s top singers, Grace Decca in Leicester, United Kingdom of Great Britain.
The venue was stormed Sunday, June 4, 2023, by activists of Brigade Anti-sardinard (BAS), disrupting the show.
The concert witnessed a premature end after protesters sent attendees running for their lives.
The BAS, a diaspora Cameroonian pressure group challenging Biya’s stay in power and the war in the English-speaking regions, invaded the venue with tear gas, engaging fans in a physical fight.
The group is known for staging anti-government protests out of the country.
Some of the organisers of the protest who spoke to MMI explained that the reason for targetting Grace Decca, was her constant support for the Biya Regime.
“We do not have a personal problem with Grace Decca, as a musician, she is great, but when she goes to Etoudi and sings for Biya and Chantal, she tries to normalise the suffering they are heaping on Cameroonians. We sent her a warning that if she sings for them, she cannot sing out of Cameroon again, she ignored us,” explained one of the BAS members.
Asked if they target every musician from Cameroon, the activist was quick to point out that this was not the case:
“We recently had Charlotte Dipanda here in the UK, did we go after her? Did we disrupt her concert? We do not just target any musician. It is those who continue to trivialize the pains of Cameroonians, by endorsing the Biya regime. We expect them to use their voices to fight for their fans who are mainly the suffering masses,” the BAS activist went on.
The action of BAS action took fans by surprise as they came in disguised and paid their gate fees. Despite advance warnings, the organisers did not know how the activists will bypass the heavy security.
“This is a very serious matter today. They stopped Grace Decca from performing. They spread teargas everywhere in the hall and the show was disrupted before the police arrived,” said a fan after escaping from the hall
“As we speak, we do not know what has happened with Grace Decca. How she was taken out of the hall safely is a mystery. It is unbelievable. Even the police could not encourage the show to go ahead. The show has ended in a fiasco,” he added.
It took the intervention of UK police to stop the protest.
One of the protesters was arrested but later released.
