Nineteen people, including popular rapper Killa Ace, were arrested Friday during a protest against a mobile data price hike outside the offices of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) in Banjul.
The protesters, made up of youths and civil society groups such as the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) and Gambians Against Looted Assets (GALA), were demonstrating against PURA’s recent directive setting mobile data at D50 per gigabyte.
They argue the hike will make internet access unaffordable for many Gambians and called for affordable rates and better service quality.
Police said the group was arrested for unlawful assembly. They were initially detained at Kairaba Police Station but later moved to four different stations Kairaba, Kanifing, Kotu, and Bakoteh after officers admitted the Kairaba cell was too small to hold all 19 detainees.
Despite repeated interventions from the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the protesters have been denied bail.
Friday’s arrests have heightened concerns about civic freedoms and access to affordable internet in The Gambia. Videos circulating online show scuffles as riot police from the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) dispersed the crowd.
Neither PURA nor the Ministry of Information has issued any statement on the protest or the arrests.
