Police in Swaziland
(eSwatini) fired teargas to break up a group of people who were praying for an
end to the coronavirus pandemic.
People were also beaten by
police officers when they questioned if the they had a court order to disperse
them.
It happened at Mphundle in
Siteki, the Times of eSwatini reported.
Pastor Aaron Ngwenya, who was leading the service, told the newspaper they were
praying at a neighbourhood care point. There were fewer than 100 people present
so they were not breaking regulations against gatherings during the present
partial lockdown in the kingdom. They were all wearing facemasks, he said.
The Times reported, ‘Ngwenya
said while they waited for more people to come, a group of about 10 police
officers, who were armed with batons and other weapons, appeared and questioned
them about their gathering.
‘He said as the congregants
attempted to respond, the police ordered them to leave the premises but as they
attempted to plead with them, the law enforcers allegedly started kicking a
faction of the congregants in an attempt to drive them out of the neighbourhood
care point premises. He claimed that other congregants were assaulted with
batons.’
The newspaper quoted him
saying, ‘The police officers claimed that they were sent by higher authorities
to disperse the gathering, something which shocked us as we know that the
country’s leaders had requested the nation to pray for the coronavirus pandemic
to come to an end, which is exactly what we were doing.’
The Times added, ‘This
resulted in commotion and that is when the police are said to have thrown
teargas canisters to disperse the crowd.’
Elsewhere, 67 people,
including businesspeople, were arrested on Wednesday (12 August 2020) as the Manzini
Disaster Management Task Team cracked down on traders who were not complying
with the coronavirus (COVID-19) guidelines.
The Times reported
most of the people were running their businesses with trading licences that had
expired; some were using unapproved sanitisers, and others failed to wear their
facemasks properly. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer
Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said a total of 67 people were arrested and
most of them paid fines ranging between E60 and E120. However, she mentioned
that some paid E500, while others paid E800 as fines for failing to comply with
the guidelines.
The previous weekend the
task team arrested 39 people for being drunk or selling alcoholic beverages at
Mangwaneni, a township, about four kilometres from Manzini.
The death toll from
coronavirus continues to rise in Swaziland. As of Thursday (13 August 2020) it
stood at 63, up 20 from the beginning of August. A total of 3,525 people
have tested positive since the crisis started. Of these 1,910 have recovered.
See also
Another Swaziland police
assault on people allegedly breaking coronavirus lockdown
Swaziland policeman
shoots boy, 15, playing football during coronavirus lockdown
More reports of police
and army violence against civilians as Swaziland coronavirus lockdown continues
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