Africa

Home page

Africa

Ivory Coast: Mob attacks gay rights group office

27 January 2014 22:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An angry mob "ransacked" the headquarters of Ivory Coast's most prominent gay rights organization, an official said Monday, underscoring the dangers facing such groups in Africa even in the few countries where homosexual acts are not crimes, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

The attack occurred after multiple days of anti-gay protests in Ivory Coast, a country generally viewed as moderate and sometimes considered a safe haven for homosexuals fleeing persecution elsewhere.

On Saturday afternoon, nearly 200 people stormed the offices of Alternative Cote d'Ivoire in Abidjan, the commercial capital, flinging stones to shatter windows and stealing computers, said Claver Toure, the group's executive director.

Others heaved sacks of garbage over the property's exterior walls and strew trash and broken glass at the entrance. Signs hung on walls demanded "Stop the homos!" and "Pedes get out!" The word "pede" is short for pedophile and is commonly used in West Africa to insult gay men.

"Everything they could take was taken, and the rest was broken," Toure said, adding that a private security guard was hospitalized with wounds to his face.

U.S. Ambassador Terence P. McCulley said he was "shocked and saddened" by the attack, in a statement posted Monday to the embassy's Facebook page.

"Even if one is not in agreement with the point of view of an organization or its people, we have an obligation in a democracy to support the right of people to organize and express themselves," he said. "I hope that Ivorians will understand that these attacks are not consonant with democratic values."

Toure criticized what he described as a deliberately slow response by security forces, saying police did not arrive until the French ambassador contacted government officials. Ultimately, he said, about 10 officers came with a half dozen U.N. peacekeepers.

"When we call, the police need to come right away and protect us because we are Ivorians," Toure said.