Swaziland police tricked students into believing they
were being escorted to deliver a petition to the government, but instead took
them to a road with no exits and ambushed them, firing shots and
beating them up.
Media in Swaziland are reporting that about 100 students
were forced to flee across the streets of the Swazi capital, Mbabane.
The Swazi Observer reported today (5 September 2012) that the students were
part of the on-going Global Week of Action for Swaziland and wanted to demonstrate
under the banner ‘Relevance of the Education System to the Current Situation’. They
wanted to deliver petitions to the Ministries of Labour and Social Security and
Education and Training Students and the South African High Commission.
The students and other pro-democracy activists are this
week drawing attention to the lack of human rights in Swaziland.
The Observer reported
that police allowed the march to start yesterday morning. ‘At first the police
officers gave the impression that the students were being escorted to the
ministry but when they reached a certain road without any exits, they ambushed
them. They ordered the marchers to disperse and fired warning shots, forcing
the students to flee while those who could not run fast enough were beaten up.
‘One such person was a female student who lay on the
ground as police officers beat her up with batons until some street vendors
begged them to stop. When the officers finally stopped hitting her, she stood
up looking confused, possibly from the blows she received and then vanished
into the streets of the capital.’
The newspaper added police chased students to the Angela
Cash and Carry. ‘The officers blocked part of the entrance to the shop while
some stormed in and beat up the students who were hiding there. Shop
attendants, who could not stand the sight of students being beaten up, fled the
scene and in fact some were not aware the people being bashed were students.’
Ordinary shoppers at the cash and carry were also beaten
by police. ‘When they stormed the shop, screams of people being assaulted with
batons could be heard from a considerable distance,’ the Observer reported.
‘This was followed by the shoppers bolting out of the shop as police followed behind. One of the shoppers who were heavily assaulted could not run fast enough but kept walking while a police officer continued to hit him with a baton.
‘He ran as if limping until he stopped a few metres away from the shop after being slowed down by the heavy beating. After finally catching up with him, other police officers then surrounded the shopper and interrogated him, after which he was allowed to walk away.
About two more others were also beaten up while another was saved by a shop owner who claimed he was not part of the students.’
The Times of Swaziland reported there was more police violence at the Mbabane
bus rank when they tried to arrest leader of the Swaziland National Union of
Students, Maxwell Dlamini.
At this time nearly 300 students had gathered at the
entrance of the Swazi Plaza where they were singing and chanting political
songs when a senior officer tried to speak to Dlamini. Students who believed
Dlamini was about to be arrested came to his rescue and Dlamini escaped.
‘When the police officers started assaulting the
students, Dlamini was nowhere to be seen and he was reported to have boarded a
kombi to Manzini in a bid to evade arrest, the Times reported.
See also
POLICE BID TO ARREST STUDENT LEADER
POLICE FIRE TEARGAS TO STOP STUDENTS
STUDENTS LEAD SECOND DAY OF PROTEST
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