Dakar (© 2024 Afriquinfos) – The Togolese opposition coalition, Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP), and the Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly spoke out following the violent attack suffered by the Honorable Guy Marius Sagna, Member of Parliament for Senegal and ECOWAS, this Saturday, September 29, 2024, in Lomé, Togo.
The Senegalese Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs expressed its dismay on September 30, following the violent attack of which the Honorable Guy Marius Sagna, Member of Parliament of Senegal and ECOWAS, was the victim, on Saturday September 29 2024, in Lomé, Togo.
Senegalese diplomacy has ‘‘firmly condemned this unspeakable act”, recalling that ‘‘The Honorable Deputy Sagna was in Togo to take part in the third extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament Commission”. According to Dakar, ‘he took the opportunity to participate in a meeting organized by Togolese citizens who are also his constituents. According to the Deputy, this brutal attack by thugs took place at the opening of this meeting”, relates the ministry in a press release.
After a telephone interview with the Honorable Member to inquire about his state of health, ‘‘the Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs informed his Togolese counterpart and requested that the physical integrity of the Honorable Member be protected’’.
However, the Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs appreciates the commitment of her Togolese counterpart to take all appropriate measures to ensure the security of Deputy Guy Marius SAGNA, the press release further assured.
In a press release, the Dynamics of the Majority of the People (DMP), in the same vein qualified the facts ‘‘scandalous attack on democracy and the Senegalese MP’’.
‘‘From the first moments of this meeting, while MP Guy Marius Sagna invited the audience to stand for the Togolese national anthem, a group of individuals brutally attacked the organizers and participants. In a wave of premeditated violence, chairs were thrown towards the official platform where Guy Marius Sagna and political leaders from civil society in Togo were present.”, underlines the DMP.
The document specifies that the attack plunged the CDPA headquarters compound into total chaos. The participants, disoriented and panicked, tried to flee in the face of the brutal assaults of these thugs who vandalized vehicles, vandalized motorcycles and beat up everything that moved.
The DMP accuses a police patrol stationed just in front of the meeting venue since the morning of complicit inaction.
« When the violence raged, no agent from this patrol intervened to restore order or protect the attacked citizens and for good reason: participants identified agents operating at the Judicial Police Directorate (DPJ) and the Central Service of research and criminal investigations (SCRIC) who carried weapons on their belt », Published the Dynamic.
She further condemns a deafening silence from the police which reflects unacceptable collusion with those who seek to gag freedom of expression and intimidate those who fight for justice and democracy.
Serious injuries and enormous damage recorded
The assessment drawn up by the DMP is heavy. She mentions 4 openings of the skull with hemorrhages requiring stitches, severe trauma, possibly a fracture of the foot, around twenty injured by open wounds on the feet or hands and around thirty people having suffered contusions.
« Guy Marius Sagna, with a bloody face, is urgently transported on the back of a man to a clinic to receive treatment following a concussion and an open wound, Messrs. Targone and Satchibou from the DMP, violently beaten, suffered head trauma, DMP MP Adjamagbo-Johnson has a bruise on her forehead », completes the list of victims.
Furthermore, the organizers have not heard from the permanent secretary of the CDPA who was seriously beaten. The material toll is also heavy. It mentions 2 vehicles being stoned, cell phones of many participants snatched, journalists’ equipment confiscated and thrown into a well and the ransacking of 300 chairs and the soul bait set up for the occasion.
Senegalese MP Guy Marius Sagna, visiting Lomé for ECOWAS Parliament activities, was to participate in a public meeting organized by the Togolese opposition platform, Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP) on September 29.
However, the meeting was disrupted by “Big Arms” who threw chairs, broke equipment and attacked the participants.
Guy Marius Sagna was injured in the head and arm. He was taken to hospital for treatment.
At least seven people, including MP Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, were injured.
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