Nyanza-Lac : one person killed in clashes between police and motorcycle taxi riders

A man was killed during clashes between police officers and motorcycle taxi riders in Mukubano village, Muyange zone, Nyanza-Lac district in Makamba province (southern Burundi).

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

This concerns a resident who died during these clashes around 4 p.m. on Tuesday at the Mukubano market.

According to witnesses, it all started when the police tried to seize motorcycles from the parking lot in this market.

The police encountered resistance from motorcycle taxi riders supported by traders who were on site.

The police attempted, unsuccessfully, to bring the situation under control by firing into the air.

For their part, the motorcycle taxi riders supported responded by throwing stones.

“Police officers then shot at point blank range at a man who died after being evacuated by the police to a local care facility,” as indicated by the police in Nyanza-Lac.

Motorcycle taxi riders accuse the police of regularly seizing their motorcycles without prior explanation of the reason for these operations.

The seized motorcycles are returned after payment of a sum of money between 100,000 and 200,000 Burundi francs and this without receipt or bill, according to motorcycle taxi riders contacted.

The police report that this incident occurred when law enforcement officers were going to apprehend a motorcycle taxi for improper loading.

According to the police, the person killed was the victim of a stray bullet, which residents refute.

According to sources on site, the police officer who shot the deceased is in police custody at the Nyanza-Lac district police station where a file is being prepared.

Motorcycle taxi riders have always accused the police in Makamba province of carrying out brutal seizures of their devices. Some police officers intervene without even wearing their uniform and, sometimes, there are injuries, whether among passengers, motorcyclists or police officers.

The provincial police commissioner in Makamba promised at the end of last May that these brutal seizures would stop and that police officers without uniform who carry out seizures would be punished.

Motorcycle taxi riders expressed their concerns, believing that the provincial police commissioner’s speech “was only intended to flatter us, as the electoral campaign approaches.”