The apprentice drivers of “fast coaches” who operate on the Parcelles Assainies-Médina route are angry. They demonstrated yesterday at Nord-Foire with red armbands. These carriers have declared an indefinite strike. This is to denounce the arrest of their colleagues by the Gendarmerie for excess passengers. They cited Agent Faye who would be on duty with the Fair Brigade. The drivers accused the gendarme of having imprisoned their comrades for overloading passengers.
Colonel Ndiaye of the Communication and Public Relations Division of the Gendarmerie provided details. According to him, it was not the elements of the Fair Brigade who were at the origin of his arrests. Rather, it was the elements of the Road Safety Gendarmerie liaison who arrested drivers for the offense of endangering the lives of others.
Colonel Ndiaye explained that this new Gendarmerie squadron for traffic flow manages traffic from Dakar to the VDN and to Almadies. He said that before the arrests, an awareness campaign was carried out on the excess number of passengers on buses. But, some drivers did not respect the ban. For this reason, 6 drivers were arrested and then brought before the Dakar public prosecutor’s office for the offense of endangering the lives of others.
