Civic bodies to sue police

Members of Malawi’s civil society announced on Monday that they intend to sue the country’s police service after they were teargassed and shot at with live and rubber bullets during a peaceful demonstration at the opening of the donor consultative meeting last week, media reports said. The protesters were demanding that donors withdraw conditions attached to further budgetary support funding for the country.

A statement released by the organisers of the demonstration, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU), urged police authorities and the Ministry of Home Affairs to apologise publicly and discipline the responsible officers in command at the time of the incident.

“We feel that the police action was inhuman, unjust, brutal and unfair, in the manner they reacted to the peaceful demonstration. We also feel that they abused their responsibility and undermined the constitutional provision of the Bill of Rights regarding freedom of expression, speech and assembly,” the organisations said in the statement.