The ongoing civil servants strike in
Malawi worsened on Thursday when
angry students joined by other youths
turned violent in some parts of the
commercial capital Blantyre. Business
came to a halt in the central business district of Blantyre City when
the school children from different
primary schools took to the streets
chanting anti-President Joyce Banda
songs. The students were protesting
against government’s failure to address their
teachers’ concerns which has resulted
in them abandoning classes. The
situation got worse in
Zingwangwa and Chirimba Townships
where the angry students smashed vehicles, burnt used tyres and created
ad hoc road blocks. A PUMA Fuel Station
at Kudya was
smashed and nearly set ablaze by the
angry students from Zingwangwa
Secondary and Primary Schools who were joined by scores of other
onlookers.
The fuel station’s shop was smashed
and all the merchandises were swept
clean as fuel attendants and security
guards belonging to G4S took cover. The crowd also damaged an Auto
Teller Machine (ATM) for NBS Bank
before police arrived at the scene and
fired teargas canisters to aggressively
disperse the crowd. The angry mob
burnt used tyres in the middle of the roads leading to
Nkolokosa, Zingwangwa and Blantyre
making them impassable. In Chirimba,
there were ugly scenes
too after students, who were
marching to Sanjika Palace to express their grievances, smashed vehicles,
particularly minibuses. Hundreds of
students clad in their
different school uniforms shouted
enraged slogans calling on President
Banda to resign for failing to run the country. Nyasa Times reporter who
witnessed
the revolting scenes at Pa ma
Landrover, Pa Wholesale and Chemusa
areas counted about eight minibuses
that had their windows broken after the students stoned them. Malawi’s
multi-award winning
musician, Lucius Banda, also had his
black classy vehicle stoned after the
pupils mistaken it for a cabinet
minister. The violent students also blocked the
M1 road but were suppressed after
marching for some kilometers by the
anti-riot police who started unleashing
of teargas canisters at them. The sad
development occurred a few hours after President Joyce Banda flew
out to Equatorial Guinea for a two-day
Africa-South America summit.