SWAZI POLICE ATTACK PREGNANT WOMAN

An eight-months pregnant woman was deliberately beaten all over her body by a Swazi policeman in the latest example of police brutality to come out of the national textile workers’ strike.

Both the Times of Swaziland and the Swazi Observer yesterday (Thursday 6 March 2008) reported that a 23-year-old woman (whom they named) was taken to hospital for treatment after the attack.

The Times reported that the woman, who was among a group striking for higher wages, was seated when she was hit on the head by a teargas canister thrown by a policeman. She fell to the ground.

The Times quoted her saying, ‘You see when I fell to the ground, I landed on my stomach and suffocating on the teargas was even more tormenting.’

The Observer reported that she was ‘severely assaulted with batons all over the body by the uncompromising police officers’.

The Observer quoted the woman saying, ‘After choking, I could not run any further, and for an instant I was gripped with fear and panic as I lay motionless on the ground.’

The Observer said it was then ‘that a police officer beat her with a baton all over the body, leaving her half conscious and gasping for breath.’

The Observer quoted the woman saying, ‘I thought I would die, but in an instant I said a prayer, especially for my baby.’

The Times reported the woman saying, ‘I now have pains in my chest. Right now I don’t know if my unborn child was affected or not.’

The Times also reported further police brutality. A woman, aged 28, (also named by the newspaper) said she was assaulted with the butt of a gun by a police officer and she later suffocated on the teargas.

In a separate report, the Observer said that many police officers on duty during the attack, which happened in the industrial town of Matsapha, had removed their force numbers from their uniforms. This meant it was difficult for people to identify who they were.

The Observer newspaper quoted one volunteer who had been present to monitor what had been intended by strikers to be a peaceful picket of factories, ‘We wonder if the hiding of force numbers is ethical for a police officer. What I know is that each and every police officer should be identifiable and this has left us with a huge dilemma.’

This is the third day running that I have reported on police brutality in Swaziland. It had not been my intention to give the textile workers;’ strike so much attention, but the continuing police brutally in Swaziland cannot be ignored.

I have yet to see any coverage of this brutality in the international media, so I hope that these reports give readers of this blog who are from outside of Swaziland some insight into what life is like in the kingdom.

On a final note, the reporting of police brutality by both the Times and now after a poor start also the Observer is to be commended. It stands in stark contrast to the radio and television in Swaziland (most of which is government controlled) which have largely ignored the police violence over the past three days.

See also
SWAZI POLICE RAMPAGE AGAIN