A demonstration against the misappropriation of funds at the Ministry of National Defence was violently dispersed by the Defence and Security Forces (FDS), who threw tear gas grenades at the crowd, one of which reportedly fell on a canvas in the Tagabati market, setting it alight and causing the death of at least three people. The FDS then arrested 16 people at the demonstration site or at their homes between 15 and 17 March 2020. Some were accused of taking part in a banned demonstration (even though no ban had been issued), while others were accused of complicity in homicide in connection with the deaths of three people on the sidelines of the demonstration. He was released four days later.