The Gambian fishing village of Sanyang has been in the vicious grip of riotous scenes on Monday apparently after a homicide case involving a resident.
The coastal village 43km south of Banjul has been living on the precipice since its villagers began first voicing concern then strident opposition to the presence of a Chinese fishmeal factory in their area.
They not only accused the Chinese of pillaging and plundering the village’s fisheries resources but also of acting recklessly toward their immediate environment.
Taken to the authorities, their concerns, they say, had fallen on deaf ears.
The incident that caused Monday’s destructive riot by angry youth happened on Sunday night when 25-year old Gibril Ceesay, a native of the village was stabbed and killed apparently as he tried to stop a thief from breaking into a European resident’s home.
His brother sustained injuries and is recovering in hospital, locals say.
However, apparently disenchanted by level of insecurity in the area, residents including Gibril’s relatives took to the streets on Monday and demanded that the suspect identified as a Senegalese citizen be apprehended and justice served.
There were riotous scenes as the angry demonstrators clashed with anti-riot police who fired teargas to disperse them.
In the ensuing melee, the villagers directed their anger at the main police station and the fishmeal factory where the alleged killer was believed to have been employed by the Chinese.
Since then footages have emerged of the scene of the riots with car tyres burning at an intersection of the village’s main artery and the smouldering visage of the deserted Chinese fishmeal factory.
Like others living in coastal villages fronting Gambia’s Atlantic coast, there has been a protracted state of estrangement between Sanyang villagers and the Chinese owners of the factory after several protests over their activities.
Soldiers were deployed at the scene to help restore order.
An uneasy calm returned to Sanyang Tuesday morning but acrid evidence of the riots scars the main streets of the village which is still struggling to shed off the tension that led to the riot.
The police have vowed to investigate the cause of Gibril Ceesay’s stabbing and the protest which ensued after his death.
WN/as/APA