Credit: wikipedia / Cameroonian embassy in Paris, France

By Gary Raynaldo  DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Opposition to Cameroon President Paul Biya continues to grow with bold protests against his regime reported  in several European capitals over the weekend. Cameroonians occupied the embassies of their country in Paris and Berlin to support protests in their home land. Some 50 protesters opposed to President Biya broke into the country’s Paris embassy, vandalising portraits of him, witnesses said on Sunday.

Credit: thelocal.fr /  PrinceNfor Hanson N /  Protesters invade Cameroon embassy in Paris Jan. 27, 2019.

French police  forced them out of the Paris diplomatic building two hours later and onto the street, where they continued their protest outside the embassy.

“They are taking Cameroonians for idiots,” protester Daniel Essissima said in Facebook video.  “They cannot bring people to rock-bottom like this. In the anglophone regions the army is killing people; in Douala, they are firing with real bullets,” he charged.

Meanwhile, protests continued on Monday in the capital, Yaounde, outside a police station, after at least six people – including opposition municipal council member and lawyer Michele Ndoki – were wounded and 117 people were arrested over the weekend in anti-government demonstrations, Deutsche Welle TV reported.  The government denied allegations that shots had been fired by security forces.  

A small group of protesters briefly occupied Cameroon’s embassy in Berlin and caused minor damage inside the building, German police said. About 10 people forced their way into the embassy of the central African nation in the early hours of Sunday and made political demands.

Credit: Google Map /  Cameroon Embassy in Berlin, Germany

The action taken by Cameroonians in France and Germany is a sign of growing resistance against Biya_DW TV.    There was also a report of protests at Cameroon Embassy in Brussels, Belgium.

Opposition Grows As 85-Year Old Paul Biya Sworn In As Cameroon’s President For Seventh Time

Credit:  dw.com /Patrick Kovarick /AFP/Getty / Cameroon President Paul Biya 

Biya, an octogenarian who has ruled Cameroon for 36 years, was  sworn in as the Central African country’s  President for a seventh term in November 2018. The opposition accused  elections of being rigged in favor of Biya.  The 85-year-old Biya was officially declared the  winner of the  elections on October 22. The polls were stained by low turnout and voter intimidation. Biya, who  is sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest president, garnered 71.3 percent of the  vote.  Opposition challenger Maurice Kamto came in a distant second with 14.2 of vote.

Opposition Supporters Refuse To Accept Biya As Cameroon President

Photo by Gary Raynaldo / November 2018. Angry protesters outside United Nations scrawl “Paul Biya Must Go” on placard, and deface his photo. The protesters declared opposition candidate Maurice Kamto in far left photo as Cameroon’s “President Elect.” 

Photo by Gary Raynaldo /  Anti-Biya protesters outside the United Nations in New York after elections November 2018. 

Opposition supports believe Kamto won the October 7, 2018 presidential election and call on Biya to hand over power for the good of the  country. Kamto called for the vote to be annulled in seven of the  country’s 10 regions, citing “multiple irregularities, serious cases of fraud and multiple violations of the  law.”

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – Cameroon’s President and head of Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement Paul Biya (2nd L) and his wife Chantal Biya (3rd L) arrive to cast their votes at a polling station during presidential elections in Yaounde, Cameroon on October 07, 2018.  (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

It looks like Biya desires to be Cameroon’s “President For Life” along the lines of a Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who ruled the country more than three decades until his forced resignation last year at age 93. However, anti-Biya protesters are raising their voices around the world.