The 2025 International Workers’ Day celebrations in Benin were disrupted after the police stormed a peaceful workers’ assembly organized by the Confédération Syndicale des Travailleurs du Bénin (CSTB), arresting the union’s leadership in what has been widely condemned as a brutal and arbitrary crackdown on trade union rights.
Police block peaceful workers’ march in Cotonou
According to a press release issued by the CSTB, events began to escalate early on the morning of May 1, when union members gathered at the designated rallying point, Red Star Square in Cotonou for a peaceful workers’ march. The CSTB had formally submitted its plans for the procession to the Mayor of Cotonou on April 16, in accordance with Benin’s legal provisions governing public assemblies.
However, in a surprising turn of events, officers of the Republican Police, led by Littoral Departmental Director of Police (DDPR), Commissioner André Dah Lokonon, descended upon the gathering, using force to block and disperse workers attempting to assemble. However, the commemorative march had spread into three separate routes throughout the city, with the intention of regrouping at the Bourse du Travail (Labor Exchange) for their traditional post-march meeting.
Instead of allowing the peaceful proceedings to continue, security forces once again intervened at the Labor Exchange. The CSTB stated that police entered the premises by force, storming the offices and physically assaulting several members of the union.
The Secretary General of the CSTB, Nagnini Kassa Mampo, his deputy Kouto Norbert, and six others were all taken into custody. The detainees were held at the Brigade Criminelle d’Agblangandan in the Akpakpa district of Cotonou.
Solidarity across the labor movement
The arrests triggered immediate condemnation from union federations and civil society organizations across the country. A groundswell of national and international solidarity followed, with unions such as COSI-Benin, CGTB, and UNSTB visiting the detained comrades in custody and issuing statements of support.
Though the arrested unionists were released later that same evening, the CSTB maintains that their arrest was an egregious violation of both national and international labor laws. In a powerful statement the following day May 2, Secretary General Kassa Mampo expressed gratitude to workers across Benin for their steadfast solidarity and reiterated the union’s commitment to defending labor rights and national sovereignty.
“Through this statement, I salute the collective rejection displayed by all workers against this act. Despite the repression, our comrades stood firm. From Cotonou to Parakou, Savalou to Azovè, workers showed their resolve,” said Mampo.
Solidarity from the Communist Party of Benin (PCB)
In a statement published in La Flamme No. 595, the political organ of the Communist Party of Benin (PCB), the party expressed unwavering solidarity with the CSTB and condemned the crackdown as a continuation of the Talon regime’s repressive war against labor.
The PCB highlighted that under “the power of breaking,” working and living conditions had worsened drastically over the past nine years. It further exposed how the police militarized Red Star Square from as early as 5 am to prevent the protest, and detailed the courageous efforts of workers who defied the ban by marching from different parts of Cotonou.
A call to organize and resist
The CSTB has condemned the continued shrinking of democratic space under President Patrice Talon’s administration, accusing the government of systematically targeting union activities through repressive policing. The union called for immediate reforms to safeguard the rights to protest, organize, and commemorate International Workers’ Day without intimidation. And on workers to “better organize themselves for the defense of their interests and for the sovereignty of the country.”
“Only struggle pays,” Mampo’s statement concluded. “Only the liberation struggle!”
