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Tension at demos

Tension ensued in Lilongwe yesterday as scores of armed police formed a human barrier to block a protest march by rain-drenched and shivering people with albinism (PWAs) against killings and abductions targeting them.

Clad in raincoats, the police officers barred about 250 placard-hoisting protesters who included some leaders of civil society organisations (CSOs) near the traffic lights a stone’s throw away from Parliament Building on the  in the dual-carriage Presidential Way.

A police officer grabs one of the protesters’ shirt in the
thick of the tension that ensued

The fearless and undeterred protesters chanted: “Tatsala pati? Mungotimaliza [Do we have a reason to live? Finish us off!]”

Some of the protesters were seen budging into the police officers blocking their march to State House which was about two kilometres away.

In the heat of the moment, a scuffle ensued. It lasted for some minutes. Despite this, it was clear the police officers would not give in.

The police action was anticipated after Lilongwe City Council (LCC) officials, during a planning meeting for the protest march on Monday, told the march organisers to present their petition to President Peter Mutharika through the council at the Civic Offices.

But the protesters, who started their march from Lilongwe Community Centre ground, disregarded the LCC order and chose to take their message all the way near the palace grounds. Throughout, the vigils were planned to culminate in their meeting President Peter Mutharika on their grievances.

Mutharika left Lilongwe on Tuesday for the Northern Region where he is undertaking a number of official engagements.

Two anti-riot police vans and more police officers stood ready, down the road, to weigh in had the protesters budged past the cordon.

CSO leaders who had helped to organise the protest quickly realised that they were heavily out-numbered. They then resorted to bellowing their grievances over the public address system.

Said Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Timothy Mtambo: “This is a legal and peaceful demonstration we are carrying out here. Why are you blocking our way? We were told that the law allows us to camp after 100 metres from State Residences. Let us go to the palace, so you can measure and block us only if we dare encroach inside the 100 metres the law talks about.”

After a long stand-off, the protest leaders later refused a reported summon to meet Chief Secretary to the Government Lloyd Muhara at Capital Hill. They, instead, demanded that the top civil servant comes to the road cordon for the meeting with the protesters.

Muhara did not pitch up. Instead, presidential adviser on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Mabvuto Bamusi and chairperson for the Presidential Task Force Against Violence on PWAs, Hetherwick Ntaba, met the march organisers.

The stand-off lingered towards the night prompting the two presidential aides and the protesters to agree that the demonstrators be temporarily camped at Mkwichi Secondary School, some two kilometres away, as discussions were still under way on how best the camps should handle the grievances.

In an interview, Bamusi said: “It is not up to State House to take action. It is up to the police to enforce the law because any vigil or demonstrations must operate within the provision of the law.”

When CSO leaders demanded that Inspector General (IG) of Police Rodney Jose should address the protesters on why they had been blocked, it was Deputy IG (Administration) John Nyondo who turned up.

Nyondo reasoned with them that holding vigils within State House precincts would be a contravention of the law as earlier advised by LCC.

Addressing demonstrators before the blockage, Apam president Overstone Kondowe said they would not leave State House premises until they meet the President.

Apam’s demands include formation of a commission of inquiry to find markets for body parts of PWAs.

Reacting to the events, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) coordinator Boniface Chibwana criticised government for not taking their interests at heart as they keep on facing injustice.

He proposed that some of the ways of ending killings and abductions of people with albinism is through learning from Tanzania on how it ended the problem.

The demonstrators have since given a 24-hour ultimatum to the President to return from the Northern Region to attend to them. n  

*See pictorial focus on Page 6

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