Protest against donor meeting

Trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) staged a demonstration in the capital, Lilongwe, on Monday outside State House where President Bakili Muluzi met with international donors including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Francis Ng-ambi of the Jubilee 2000 Malawi chapter told IRIN that the demonstration was legal and peaceful but that the police asked the demonstrators not to hold up their placards when the president arrived for the meeting. “Unfortunately the demonstrators had to hold up their placards because the representatives from the IMF and the World Bank entered the State House first and they needed to see what the demonstration was all about. The police then fired tear gas into the crowd to disperse the demonstrators and the police are still patrolling the area outside the State House,” Ng-ambi said. “The action by the police today was brutal and uncivilised and totally undemocratic because we had permission from the authorities to hold our demonstrations,” he added. Ng-ambi said that were no casualties apart from the “after effects of the tear gas on people”. He said that representatives from civil society groups met with the donors on Sunday. “We explained to them that we, as civil society, have been denied the opportunity to discuss issues with the government before they meet with international donors.”