Riot police in Swaziland
fired shots over the heads of striking workers who were protesting for an
increase in pay of the equivalent of 35 US cents per hour.
Two shots were fired by the
Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) when workers demonstrated outside the Plantation
Forestry Company.
The strike has lasted more
than nine days. Chairperson of the Swaziland Agriculture & Plantations
Workers Union (SAPAWU) Sibusiso Masuku said workers demonstrated in front of a
group of police.
The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Wednesday (25 August 2016)
that one police officer fired two shots into the air, ‘which caused panic
amongst the workers’. However, no one was hurt.
The newspaper reported Masuku
saying, ‘We were shocked by the gunshots but we are not backing down. It seems
our complaints are not being heard by the administration. First we were told
that we cannot hold our legal strike inside our work premises so we were forced
to demonstrate along the dangerous road.
‘Then we were allowed to
picket inside the Plantation Company premises but now we want to take the
strike to our work stations.’
Police in Swaziland regularly intervene on behalf of
employers in industrial disputes.
In October 2015 police fired shots and teargas at
protesting textile workers at the Zheng Yong Garment factory in Nhlangano. They were protesting against the
behaviour of security guards.
In June 2015, Swaziland was
listed as one of the top ten worst countries in the world for workers’
rights. It was grouped alongside some of the worst human rights violators on
the planet, including Belarus, China, Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
See also
SWAZI HUMAN RIGHTS WORSEN: AMNESTY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/swazi-human-rights-worsen-amnesty.html
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