Written by Pa Nderry M’Bai
The head of the breakaway rebellious APRC splinter group Jerrending Sanyang has been charged with unlawful gathering, reliable sources have intimated. Sanyang’s arrest and subsequent charging followed a planned press conference that he had earlier wanted to hold at his Lamin home. The police were deployed to prevent him from holding the press conference. Sanyang told the police that he has all rights to use his home to speak to the media. To back up his claim, Sanyang cited the power struggle that gripped the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in the wake of its congress, in which Tuma Njie, the self-proclaimed PPP leader and Kebba Jallow, the legitimately elected PPP leader have been organizing press conferences without being stopped by the police.
Sanyang was later informed that he was under arrest, but he asked the police to allow him walk to the station on his own. He spent about thirty minutes at his home talking to the Kerr Fatou network before he was finally arrested by the police. He was arrested around the Banjulnding police, while he was walking on foot to the station.
His arrest has sparked disturbances around the Banjulnding police station. The police even had to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.
According to reliable sources Jerrending Sanyang was briefly detained at the Banjulnding police station before he was moved to the new anticrime base at the police training school.
“He has been charged with unlawful gathering. This is one of the stupidest charges that has ever been filed against a political activist. Jerrending was at his own home. How can he unlawfully gather at his home? This case is going to be dismissed by the courts, unless additional credible charges are filed against him. I think this is yet another attempt to make the government look bad. The charge sheet doesn’t hold water,” one source told us.
The unlawful gathering charge filed against Jerrending Sanyang is a bailable offense. Sanyang was arrested together with two others.
Meanwhile, the APRC supporter “Obama Badjie” was earlier today mercilessly beaten by the rebellious splinter APRC group. The vehicle that he was riding in was commandeered by a mob. His colleagues escaped, but he couldn’t. He was grabbed and beaten badly. He was rescued by the police.
“If the police had not intervened, he could have been beaten to death. The incident happened just next to the Banjulnding police station,” said our source.
“Obama Badjie was the first to speak to the APRC breakaway group when the APRC pickup truck that he was riding in reached near the police station. He said something derogatory to the APRC splinter group that never went down well with his former party colleague members. They then resorted to blocking his car from moving. He was subsequently beaten by the mob,” our source added.
The post BREAKING NEWS: JERRENDING SANYANG CHARGED WITH UNLAWFUL GATHERING; HE IS DETAINED AT THE NEW ANTICRIME BASE AT THE POLICE TRAINING SCHOOL! appeared first on Freedom Newspaper.