Cameroon Deploys Police to Control Football Supporter Influx
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Loading... - Mike Kuate
- 12 Aug 2022
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Ahead of a Cameroon-Gambia knockout match in the ongoing Africa Football Cup of Nations in Douala, a commercial hub and coastal city Saturday, Cameroon says it has deployed an additional 250 police officers to control an influx of tens of thousands of fans. The central African nation this week reported a stampede that killed eight people and injured 38 in an AFCON match in the capital, Yaoundé. Police have been struggling to contain the huge number of arriving fans.
This song, Go Lions Go, by the musical group Tribute Sisters, blasts through speakers at bus stations in Yaoundé and Douala. The song says if Cameroon's national football team, the Indomitable Lions, wins the ongoing Africa Football Cup of Nations, Cameroon will be stronger and more united and its people will be proud.
Host Cameroon is playing a quarter-final match Saturday against Gambia in Douala.
Among the Cameroon fans in the city is Gilbert Ekosso, a 28-year-old teacher. Ekosso says if he misses this opportunity, he may never watch Cameroon play against Gambia in an AFCON match in his life.
"The last time Cameroon hosted an Africa Cup of Nations competition was about 50 years ago," Ekosso said. "There is no way I can miss this match between Cameroon and Gambia. It looks like a once in a lifetime opportunity watching them play here in Douala."
Cameroon police and the ministry of Sports and Physical Education say tens of thousands of football fans from Cameroonian towns and villages are already in Douala. The police say the 50,000-seat Japoma stadium, the match venue, cannot contain the number of fans scrambling to get entry tickets.
Narcisse Mouelle Kombi is Cameroon's sports and physical education minister.
Kombi says there is a heavy deployment of the police to stop the uncivil behavior of Cameroonians who want to force themselves into the stadium when they do not have tickets and negative COVID-19 test results. He says the police will also ensure that the number of people admitted into the stadium is exactly the number authorized by the Confederation of African Football. Read More...
