Police disperse protest against the ill-treatment of migrants by Algerian authorities

Peaceful Assembly

On 12th March, police officers dispersed a youth protest with tear gas and batons, resulting in several injuries and arrests being made. The protest mobilised dozens of youth recently deported from Algeria and took place in front of the Algerian Embassy in the Daoudabougou neighbourhood in Bamako. The protesters denounced the inhumane and degrading treatment of migrants by the Algerian authorities. According to news reports, the protesters threw rocks, broke windows and security cameras, erected barricades, and set fire to the garden in front of the Embassy.

According to a statement of several national and international human rights organisations, including International Federation of Human Rights, Maroccan Organisation for Human Rights and the Algerian League for the Protection of Human Rights, Algerian security officers arbitrarily detained more than 280 migrants from Sub Saharan Africa on 11th and 12th March in Algeria, without following procedures and protocol. The migrants were then left in the desert at the southern border, leaving them no choice but to continue on foot to Mali or Niger. This practice of collective deportations by Algerian authorities has been ongoing since September 2017.

Expression

According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), presidential guards assaulted journalist Doumba Dambele on 25th April 2018 in the city of Segou in south-central Mali. Dambele, who works for Kledu Radio, was covering a ceremony attended by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, when he was attacked by four presidential guards who stole his money and phone. This incident followed an attack two weeks earlier, on 13th April, when Mahamadou Sacko - an intern for the newspaper Le Prétoire - was assaulted by police officers while he was filming police demolish a garage. TSacko was detained and his phone and motorcycle were taken.