In Benin, two events marked May 1, 2024, an uneventful meeting at the labor exchange and a CSTB march prevented by the police and which led to 72 arrests, according to the organizers. A figure confirmed by several sources.
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With our correspondent in Cotonou, Jean-Luc Aplogan
The police prevented organizers and activists from converging towards the Red Star Square, the starting point of the procession organized by the trade union confederation of workers of the Benign (CSTB). They were dispersed and arrests took place.
Elsewhere in the city, four important unions organized a meeting at the Labor Exchange, around which a police force was deployed very early. In the courtyard and in front of the crowd, the leaders returned with great anger to their stifled march on Saturday April 27 and their arrests.
With their activists, dressed in yellow vests and red headbands on their foreheads, they launched a chorus of “ never again “. Same scenario to evoke their main demand of the moment, the high cost of living. “ The people are hungry, the Beninese are hungry “, shouted the crowd. A demand summarized by Moudassirou Bachabi of the CGT: “ The people live poorly, life is expensive. We want better protection of purchasing power “.
The unions insist on their march on the cost of living. They have therefore rescheduled one for May 11.
Read alsoBenin: demonstration against the high cost of living blocked by the police, brief arrests