5 INJURED AS PROTESTERS, POLICE CLASH

MANZINI – Several clashes between the police and protesting workers in Manzini City Centre saw five people being rushed to hospital with injuries.
The injured people included four workers and a vendor.

Reports are to the effect that the vendor is admitted to the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital as he was critically injured.
The first clash took place after the about 1 000 protestors diverted from their route right under the nose of armed police officers. The bloody clash happened at the central business district (CBD) during the first day of the three-day protest action hosted by the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).

According to TUCOSWA Vice President Simangele Mtetwa, who was leading the protest action together with Patrick Mamba, who is the Treasurer of the workers’ federation, their route was supposed to start at King Somhlolo Park to Waste Centre (Nkoseluhlaza Street). She said from there, they were supposed to turn right towards Manzini Main Market and down past the Manzini Police Regional Headquarters (Mancishane Street). From there, she said they were supposed to protest past Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and back to King Somhlolo Park.

However, after reaching the traffic lights near EPTC Manzini branch, the protesters went straight towards Swaziland National Provident Fund (SNPF) instead of turning left to King Somhlolo Park.

Upon reaching the traffic lights by SNPF, the workers marched down against oncoming traffic towards KFC near the Manzini Bus Rank (Ngwane Street) and threatened to go to the rank to persuade public transport drivers and conductors to join them.
However, the armed police officers who were deployed to monitor the protest action formed a wall along the road leading to the bus rank and blocked the protesters in the process.

Meanwhile, traffic came to a standstill and businesses along the street, including banks, closed. Traffic which was destined to the bus rank had to turn back as the protesters were littered all over the road.  
The protesting workers spent about an hour at the bus rank entrance road and during that time, no vehicle was able to make it into the rank. However, later on, they proceeded with their protest action by marching towards the traffic lights near Standard Bank and turned left towards King Somhlolo Park.
Again, instead of going into the park, the protesters marched and protested towards EPTC Manzini branch and turned left towards SNPF.
It was then that the police used stun grenades to disperse the protesters.

However, this seemed to have angered the protesters as they pelted the police with stones and all sorts of rubbish they came across. The clash lasted for about five minutes as the situation was calmed by the intervention of TUCOSWA marshals.

As they continued to protest by the traffic lights near SNPF, police called for backup and a group of armed law enforcers arrived in a foreign registered vehicle. Soon after their arrival, the riot police squad exploded several stun grenades, used water cannons to spray at the protesting workers and fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets towards them.

It was after this incident that the police clashed several times with the protesting workers and in the process the four workers and vendor were injured. Some of the injured people were assaulted, while it is suspected that others were shot with rubber bullets.

Meanwhile, Mtetwa confirmed that five people were rushed to hospital after they were injured during the clash between the protesters and the police. She said there were three females and two men. She added that two of them were teachers while the others were members of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) and National Workers Union in Swaziland Higher Education (NAWUSHI), respectively.

Mtetwa blamed the police for the clash. She said before the clash, some police officers allegedly engaged her in talks about the diversion from the agreed routes.
“I asked them where they were when the protesters diverted from the route because they had been blocking them by forming human walls along all the other junctions during the protest action,” Mtetwa said.

She said her concern was why did the law enforcers decide to let the workers divert from the given route since they were there to ensure order and protect lives and property. She added that the officers had every tool at their disposal to stop the diversion but for reasons known to them, they allegedly decided to let it happen.

On that note, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, said things did not go well in Manzini as there were three cases of malicious damage to property which were reported. However, Vilakati said there were no reports of injured people reported to the police so far.
Notably, a BMW sedan had its rear window broken and Pep Store was vandalised during the clashes.

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