Hundreds of Malawians in Mzuzu City on Monday descended on Taifa Market in the city to evict Tanzanian nationals plying their trade at the market.
The Malawians, who were stopped by armed police officers, claimed they wanted to avenge the attacks on Malawians in Tanzania where people have lost property, jobs, businesses and one life.
One Malawian, 28-year-old Duncan Banda, died over weekend after he was beaten up in what are believed to be xenophobic attacks in Tanzania. The cause of these attacks, which started two weeks ago, is not yet known.
Business came to a standstill at Taifa Market in the afternoon as shop owners closed their premises, running for their lives. The closed shops included those belonging to Malawians and other foreign nationals.
The mob carried stones and other weapons vowing to deal with the Tanzanians.
The mob was at the scene for hours waiting for police to withdraw.
They also threatened to attack the Tanzanians in their homes at night as their counterparts were reportedly doing in Tanzania. The people also called on the police to allow them to descend on the market.
“Our relatives are being attacked in Tanzania and you are here protecting the Tanzanians. They have to leave. We will make sure we deal with them,”said one person in the mob.
Mzuzu Police spokesperson Maurice Chapola, who was on the scene, said the situation would have gone out of control if police had not rushed to the scene.
He said the crowd was irked by reports that hundreds of Malawians have been deported from Tanzania and a number of them were stranded in Mzuzu.
“The situation is under control. As you can see, we have heavy presence of heavily armed police. We will have to guard the premises throughout the night because any withdrawal will give people room to vandalise the market,”said Chapola.
