AA / Montreal / Hatem Kattou
The Senegalese Embassy in Canada has denounced the “unacceptable police violence” perpetrated by the police of the city of Gatineau against the diplomat of this African country stationed in Ottawa.
This is what emerges from an information note released on Saturday by the diplomatic representation of the West African country, about the incident which took place on August 2.
“The allegations against Ms. Niang (the diplomat in question) betray a clear intention to dilute the gravity of the incident which relates to a flagrant and serious violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”, we read in the information note.
The embassy also mentions the dissemination of “false and shocking” information, with the stated aim of “diluting the seriousness of unacceptable police violence”.
The Senegalese diplomat allegedly, according to police sources from the city of Gatineau, “shown aggressiveness and refused to cooperate”, during her arrest by the agents in the presence of a bailiff who had the mandate to apply a court decision relating to unpaid rent.
The Senegalese diplomatic note wishes, however, to specify that the diplomat had disputes with the owner of her former home, who was “in good faith at the beginning”, adding that Ms. Niang has “suffered since the beginning from the problems of heating and moisture due to non-compliance with construction standards and that its owner had been threatening towards it”.
Following this, the diplomat “decided to move in October 2020 and when handing over the keys, she offered the housing manager the last rent due, which he refused”.
“Ms. Niang received a few months later by way of a bailiff a request for payment of $57,207 to cover, in particular, the costs of rebuilding the house”, continues the text.
“Ms. Niang indicated through a lawyer that she only owed the landlord the rent for the month of October that the manager had not wanted to take,” reads the note, which emphasizes that “in the light these explanations, the charges against Ms. Niang do not stand up”.
The Senegalese Embassy adds in its note, after having “restored” the facts, that “nothing in this case can justify the violence suffered by Mrs. Niang and her minor children”.
In conclusion, the embassy underlined “following very closely the investigation which was ordered on the unacceptable actions of the police officers”.
Occurring at the beginning of August, this incident had provoked an outcry between Ottawa and Dakar, which had summoned the charge d’affaires of the Canadian embassy to “vigorously denounce and strongly condemn this racist and barbaric act”.
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