Police crackdowns on traffic violations: government challenged

2024-04-16 10:45:57

For several weeks, the Republican Police have started an operation to suppress traffic violations. But faced with the abuse and violence that accompanied the operation, deputies stepped up to demand explanations from the executive.

It is through a topical question addressed to the government that parliamentarian Abdoulaye Gounou and 10 other elected officials contacted the executive this Monday, April 15, 2024. The deputies in the National Assembly wish to know more about the conduct of the operation to suppress traffic violations.

Scenes of excitement

Since the start of the operation, parliamentarians say they have noted behavioral abuses by certain police officers on the ground. When discussing these abuses, they made particular reference to the videos which circulated and were widely relayed on social networks over the past week. One of them shows a group of four police officers beating a motorcyclist in Natitingou.

The scene which allegedly took place last Friday April 12 moved the web. In addition, it sparked a great debate in public opinion when it was learned that the witness who took the video was arrested and placed in detention. But on the day of Monday April 15, he was released and the four police officers involved were placed in detention after being presented to the prosecutor. They should be judged on May 13

In another video, we see a police officer hanging on the door of a public transport vehicle while threatening the driver. Despite the pleas of the passengers on board, the uniformed agent was determined to complete his arrest, putting his life and those of the passengers in danger. This scene has not yet been the subject of legal proceedings.

Requests for information

For parliamentarians, all these elements deserve explanations from the government. “Faced with the multiplication of abuses by police officers which amount to sabotage of the security reforms undertaken by the government aimed at ensuring the well-being of its populations, we considered it appropriate, as representatives of the people, to “to question the Executive on this matter, on the basis of article 110 of the internal regulations of the National Assembly”, they justified.

In light of their questions, the deputies who questioned the executive are awaiting several explanations. “Are police officers justified in inflicting such degrading and inhumane treatment on a peaceful citizen, worthy of the era of the slave trade,” they ask. Abdoulaye Gounou and his colleagues also asked to know the measures taken by the government to prevent such police abuses in the future.