Open in full screen mode People have trained a long column Saturday in downtown Winnipeg to pay tribute to 19-year-old Afolabi student Stephen Opaso and demand answers about the true circumstances of his death. Radio-Canada Speech synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, makes it possible to generate spoken text from written text. Members of Winnipeg's Black community and several others paid tribute Saturday in Winnipeg to Afolabi Stephen Opaso, the 19-year-old student from Nigeria who lost his life during a police intervention earlier this year . Participants in a march took the opportunity to demand explanations about the circumstances of his death. The memorial march started in front of Union Station and continued to the Manitoba Legislative Building.
The participants at the Afolabi Man March Stephen Opaso went to the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg.
Among the participants were classmates of the young deceased, students from different universities and parents affected by this tragedy
That touched me a lot because I have never lost someone I knew or was so close to, said Femi, a participant in the gathering.< /p>
For some students, it was difficult to go to class and try to do something. #x27;get out, testifies Dola, another person present.
The participants at the tribute to young Afolabi Stephen Opaso demanded an end to police brutality.
For many people, the death of Afolabi Stephen Opaso raises questions about the circumstances of the police intervention. The march therefore aims to demand justice both for the young man who died and for anyone struggling with all forms of injustice..
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The atmosphere is gloomy as you will see, we are here for Afolabi. And for all those who deserve justice, protection. We are here to tell this Parliament Hill that we need justice for all, says the vice-president of the Association of African Communities of Manitoba, René Tondji-Simen.
Even if an investigation is underway to shed light on the tragedy, lawyer Jean-René Dominique Kwilu, who represents the family of&# x27;Afolabi Stephen Opaso, reiterates the desire of the black community for reforms to avoid the repetition of such tragedies.
These are the everyday demands to ensure that there are cameras, that they [the police] wear cameras, says Mr. Kwilu.
And also from the point of view of these kinds of incidents, when it's charitable appeals for mental health and all that, it should first be a civilian team that arrives mental health experts before we can immediately deploy 911, he continues.
The The death of the young student sparked reactions beyond Manitoba. A petition has been started online. More than 10,000 signatures have been collected seeking action from federal authorities.
On December 31, 2023, agents of the Winnipeg Police Service received a call about a man behaving erratically at an apartment on University Crescent shortly before 2:30 p.m.
When they arrived, they encountered a man who was armed with two knives. This is how a police officer shot him. Transported to hospital in critical condition, the 19-year-old man succumbed to his injuries.
Le telejournal Manitoba
With information from Natalia Weichsel