Cyclists protest district decision to bar them from inner city - threaten to demonstrate

NORTHERN PROVINCE Cyclists in Musanze district have protested the resolution by the district security meeting to stop them from working from within Ruhengeri town and threatened to demonstrate saying that they were not asked to plan for other means of survival. According to the Christomy Hategekimana president of COTAVEMUSA, the cyclists’ association over 1000 motorists have been transporters of irish potatoes and other agricultural products also transporting people from deep in the rural to the town centers. He said that while they were preparing for the New Year’s Day celebrations, the sector executive secretary Amiel Ndahiro called for a meeting and read them the resolution, cyclists protested and walked to the district but they were stopped by police. The district mayor Celestin Karabayinga defended the decision saying that it would reduce the number of accidents resulting from many cyclists crowded within the town and it would also pave way for the rehabilitation of the town road. He pointed out that some of the cyclists have been defying the sector resolutions and advised them to use the distant parking posts which are not too close to the town. Cyclists who say that they had respected the previous policy of not using the main road instead used the roads on the periphery of town but were surprised to be stopped suddenly. The angry cyclists demanded for some time to find alternative work or be allowed to continue using the down town roads. Ends