Soul-searching after police attack protestors

Shocked Swazis began soul-searching on Thursday, a day after police violently suppressed labour-led protests against the rule of King Mswati III. The security forces fired tear gas and used batons to break up demonstrations by activists demanding political reforms, timed to coincide with the Global Smart Partnership International Dialogue Summit, a three-day Commonwealth conference on sustainable development. "I was selling my newspapers, as I have done for 15 years, at the bus station. The police were chasing people. They beat me. They could see my newspapers, but they beat me. I lost all my sales money, and my purse with all my money. I am bruised, and my head is dizzy," vendor Ncamsile Mncina told IRIN. Other witnesses related how police dragged suspected demonstrators out of stores in the capital, Mbabane, and beat them. People who sought to render first-aid assistance to injured people were themselves beaten, as were commuters and bystanders. "The king says freedom of expression and the right to assemble are in the new constitution. Why are [the police] attacking us for exercising our rights?" Ntombi Nkhosi, head of the women's league of the banned political party, Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), told IRIN. "The police action showed they are not here to keep the peace, but to punish anyone with dissenting views," said Dr Joshua Mzizi, a theologian at the University of Swaziland. Mzizi, who heads the Human Rights Association of Swaziland, said his organisation had collected dozens of statements from Swazis who suffered indiscriminate police beatings this week. Jan Sithole, secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, told IRIN: "We don't know the exact number of people injured by the police, because the government hospital was shut down when nurses left their posts in solidarity with the workers. Tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, batons and rifle butts were used against unarmed people. The bloodshed proved the brutality of national leaders who are afraid of losing their positions and privileges in democratic reform." Mbabane was quiet on Thursday as shopkeepers boarded up windows shattered by stone-throwing protestors. Despite a vow by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to blockade border posts in solidarity with Swazi labour until Friday, traffic between the two countries flowed normally. But in a continuation of Swazi protest action, Sithole led 200 workers in a march through the commercial city of Manzini on Thursday. They were joined by 80 members of the outlawed NNLC. The police blocked traffic from entering the city centre from the national highway but, despite a heavy contingent of security forces, including army soldiers and prison guards, there were no incidents. The unions also won a legal victory on Thursday when the Industrial Court granted them permission to march to the site of the Smart conference, the largest summit yet held in Swaziland, 10 km from the capital. "We want the police to allow us to march to the summit site, and deliver a petition to delegates," Vincent Ncongwane, secretary of the Swaziland Federation of Labour, told reporters at the court. The workers' petition read: "We understand that one of the basic tenets of the Global 2003 Summit is respect for the rule of law. Our government has jettisoned this noble tenet ... Baton-charging and tear-gassing peaceful marchers and dispersing peaceful assembly shows the arrogance of force." Enterprise and Employment Minister Lutfo Dlamini expressed the government's anger at the demonstrators. "They are out to embarrass the king!" Dlamini told reporters at a summit briefing. He disputed that the workers had any legitimate grievances, and said any Swazi can bring his problems directly to the attention of the king. But Musa Hlope, executive director of the Federation of Swaziland Employers, faulted the government's approach to the demonstrators. "The losers in this case are not those people out on the street but us here [at the summit]. They are engaging in their action because of their frustration, and want to get attention. I don't think we can apportion blame to them, but should blame ourselves for not having taken the opportunity to resolve their issues," he told reporters. Mario Masuku, president of the banned political party, the People's United Democratic Movement, told IRIN: "We need a system where we don't have to go to the palace and beg to be heard. We need a democracy where we choose leaders who listen to us, or be voted out."