In October, lawyers, students, and teachers started peaceful demonstrations after French-speaking judges and teachers were sent to Anglophone-majority regions by the Francophone-majority Government. After colonial rule, Cameroon inherited two legal systems, and Anglophone-majority regions retained the common law system inherited by British imperialists. But the sudden
imposition of Francophone judges threatened Anglophone representation in the legal
profession. The Government’s move intensified feelings of the Anglophone minority that Francophone elites were set on marginalizing their political and cultural significance. Demonstrations were violently broken up by military forces who fired live ammunition and launched teargas on civilians. These events mark the beginning of the current “Anglophone crisis.”