Click to expand Image A protester waving a Cameroonian flag approaches police officers as they gather in Garoua on October 26, 2025. © 2025 AFP via Getty Images (Nairobi) – The authorities in Cameroon responded to widespread opposition-led protests following the October 12, 2025 elections with lethal force and mass arrests of protesters and other citizens, Human Rights Watch said today.The Constitutional Council announced on October 27 that the incumbent President Paul Biya, 92, had won the election with 53.66 percent of the vote. His main challenger, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the former transport and communication minister, had declared himself the winner on October 12, alleging electoral fraud. Biya, who has been president since 1982, was sworn in for an eighth term on November 6.“The violent crackdown on protesters and ordinary citizens across Cameroon lays bare a deepening pattern of repression that casts a dark cloud over the election” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately rein in, investigate, and prosecute responsible security forces, and all political leaders should call on their supporters to reject violence.”Human Rights Watch spoke to 20 people, including relatives of people killed or injured during protests, as well as lawyers and political opposition members. Click to expand Image Screenshot of a video showing military deployed in the city of Douala, Littoral region of Cameroon, on October 27, 2025, to contain protesters. © 2025 Private The protests broke out on October 26 and continued over several days in several cities. They were followed by a lockdown between November 4 and 7, after Tchiroma urged citizens to stay at home to protest the election results.Since October 26, police and gendarmes have responded with tear gas and live ammunition to disperse crowds. International media citing United Nations sources said security forces killed 48 people during protests across Cameroon. Opposition sources who spoke to Human Rights Watch put the death toll at 55. On November 6, René-Emmanuel Sadi, Cameroon’s communication minister, said that several dozen people died during protests and that “investigations are ongoing” to determine the exact death toll.Some protests were violent, as crowds assaulted the police and gendarmes, throwing rocks and other objects. In some areas, protesters built roadblocks and set on fire and ransacked public buildings, shops, and other private properties. Security forces responded with lethal force.On November 9, Tchiroma issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Cameroonian authorities, demanding the immediate release of all people detained since the elections and saying that “otherwise, the people will find themselves in a situation of self-defense.” Click to expand Image Screenshot of a video showing protesters in the city of Douala, Littoral region of Cameroon, on October 28, 2025. © 2025 Private One man said gendarmes shot his 35-year-old brother, a trader, who was protesting in Douala’s New Bell neighborhood on October 28. He said he went to Laquintinie hospital, where “doctors told me he had been shot in the genitals ... he died the following day.”Another man said that police killed his is younger brother, a 34-year-old medical student, with gunfire during the protests in Douala on October 27. After seeing images of his brother’s body circulating on social media, he searched in various hospitals across the city, including a military hospital, to no avail.On October 27, a 44-year-old plumber in Douala was shot in the stomach while the police were dispersing protesters with live ammunition in the Ari neighborhood. “He died on his way to the hospital,” his brother said.A man said he rescued his 15-year-old nephew who was shot outside his home in Bafoussam’s Famleg neighborhood, where security forces were firing tear gas and live bullets at protesters on October 28. “Police and gendarmes were shooting randomly,” he said. “A bullet pierced his back and went out from his stomach.”The authorities have also detained people. On November 6, the communication minister said “several hundred” were detained. According to a pool of 149 lawyers formed to provide pro-bono assistance to those held during and after protests, security forces detained up to 2,000 people, including several minors. Authorities have provided details about 105 people detained on October 26 in Douala. Click to expand Image Peaceful protesters in Garoua, in Cameroon’s North region, on October 31, 2025. © 2025 Private Human Rights Watch reviewed 5 lists compiled by pro-opposition lawyers with the names of 312 people detained since October 26, with 154 yet to be presented before a judge. Among those detained in Yaoundé, at least six are being held at the at the State Defense Secretariat, (Secrétariat d’Etat à la défense, SED), a detention facility where Human Rights Watch has documented routine use of torture.Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that the charges against those detained include “hostility against the homeland,” “revolution,” “rebellion,” and “insurrection.” They said the offenses have been applied indiscriminately and are unrelated to the actual acts of protest. Some of these crimes could be punishable with the death penalty.Lawyers also reported only very limited access to their clients, as well as mistreatment of some of them upon arrest.Kengne Fabien, a lawyer, said that one of his clients, a 63-year-old civil engineer, was beaten upon arrest on October 27 in Douala. “Gendarmes beat him, tore his clothes, and detained him without explanation,” Kengne said. “My client was not involved in any protest but was questioned over a voice message he had sent in a family WhatsApp group urging relatives to vote for Tchiroma.” The man, Kengne said, has been held in administrative detention since October 30, without charge.President Biya, the world’s longest-serving head of state, has ruled Cameroon since 1982, scrapping presidential term limits in 2008 and systematically suppressing opposition and dissent. In the months preceding the election, authorities further closed civic space, imposing harsh restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and association.Cameroon’s constitution protects the rights to life, physical integrity, humane treatment, and freedom of assembly and expression. Cameroon is also a party to several international human rights treaties, such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provide similar protections and guarantees.International law, including as part of the obligations to respect the rights to life and physical integrity, prohibits excessive use of force by law enforcement officials and regulates when they can resort to lethal force. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms provide that law enforcement officials may use force only in proportion to the seriousness of the offense, and that the intentional use of lethal force is permitted only when strictly unavoidable to protect life.“The Cameroonian authorities should immediately release all those held in connection with peaceful protests or for peaceful expression of opposition to the government,” Allegrozzi said. “Anyone committing violence should be appropriately charged with their due process rights fully respected, including their rights to bail and to a prompt and fair trial with an effective defense.”