Sanyang Youths Vent Anger on Police and Chinese Plant to Protest Killing of a Villager

Angry demonstrators have taken to the streets of Sanyang village, this Monday morning, to express their fury, following the death by stabbing of one Gibril Ceesay, 25, a resident of Bunkiling Sanyang, a locality in the village.

The situation quickly degenerated into a riot when the police attempted to stop a group of youths in this coastal fishing centre of The Gambia, 31 km from the capital, Banjul, to break into the premises of a Chinese fish meal plant in the village, as the youths tried to get hold of the suspected stabber.

From eye witnesses’ accounts, the death of Gibril Ceesay is in relation to a brawl that ensued between him and a co-worker of the Chinese fishmeal plant in Sanyang.  The suspected murderer of Gibril, allegedly a Senegalese, was said to have later sought refuge in the Chinese fish meal plant where the youths tried to break into.

It didn’t take long for the Chinese fish meal plant and Sanyang police station to be overwhelmed by the rioters. As the confrontation between rioters and the police went on a crescendo, a cloud of dark smoke could be seen coming from the vicinities of these two spots. It is now confirmed that the Sanyang police station has been set ablaze.

Dozens of troops from the police intervention unit (PIU) of Kanifing were quickly sent on reinforcement at the scene in Sanyang as fear grows of a vendetta by sections of angry youths against the Senegalese community.

We continue to monitor the situation as this story evolves.