The
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) which represents 207 million
workers worldwide has protested to the Swaziland / Eswatini Government after police attacked peaceful demonstrators in
the kingdom’s capital Mbabane.
Four
people were seriously injured, with two left critical, after police fired stun
grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon.
ITUC
in a letter to Swaziland Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini said, ‘We strongly denounce
the excessive brutality used to break up the peaceful demonstration.’ It said
such violence violated international conventions that the Swazi Government had
signed.
The demonstration organised by the Trade Union
Congress of Swaziland on 29 June 2018 was over accusations that millions of
dollars have been removed from the national pension fund by the government of
King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch. They were also calling for the introduction of a minimum wage and
amendments to employment law.
Police in Swaziland routinely attack peaceful
protesters. In February 2018 police did not deny a media report they fired
live ammunition during a protest by students of Swaziland
Christian University about delays in receiving allowances and problems over
graduation.
In February 2017 police fired warning
gunshots at civilians when kombi drivers and conductors brought
traffic to a standstill at Mvutshini by blocking the highway and stopping
public transport. They were protesting about an alleged corrupt traffic police
officer.
Also in February 2017 police
fired warning gunshots as University of Swaziland students marched
with a petition to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to protest about
late payment of their allowances.
Again in
February 2017 they fired live
gunshots and teargas at workers at Juris Manufacturing in Nhlangano
when workers were locked out in a dispute over allegations that management
planned to purge the staff of ‘troublesome elements’.
In October 2016 police fired gunshots at
protesting students at the Limkokwing university in Mbabane. At least four students received ‘serious
injuries’ during disturbances, according to the Times
of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.
In August 2016 riot
police fired shots over the heads of striking workers outside the
Plantation Forestry Company who were protesting for an increase in pay of the
equivalent of 35 US cents per hour.
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An injured protester at the march in Mbabane
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See also
POLICE
FIRE STUN GRENADES AT PROTEST
TWO CRITICAL AFTER POLICE ATTACK
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/two-critical-after-police-attack.html
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