Villagers, Malawi Police clash: Mayhem at Kasiya in Lilongwe
It was a night of running battles at Kasiya in Lilongwe after police shot dead one person in an operation to restore order after violence over land dispute went wrong.
Sources say the police went to the area, in the outskirts of the city at around 10pm to arrest a man, Jefayi Masaiti who was accused of unlawful use of piece of land.
“When the police went to his house to arrest him, he emerged with an axe and hacked one of the police officers, prompting one of the officers to fire in the air three times to warn him but he leapt towards another officer and one of the police officers just shot him before he hacked another officer,” said our source.
The stabbed officer, sergeant Precious Makuta, sustained serious injuries.
This angered the villagers who rose against the law enforcers.
The villagers also went to the complainant’s house and burned his house and a tobacco barn.
Calm has returned but the atmosphere remains tense.
Police spokespersons asked for more time to gather facts before commenting on the issue.
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In old days, local chiefs were involved in solving land disputes. When both parties could not heed the voice of the chief, it was then reported to Police to intervene. I don’t know whether this procedure was followed. Such death could have been averted
Hacking a police officer in uniform and resisting arrest and expect to be left clean? There is no case here. The police act explains everything. There was no need to cripple this man who became dangerously violent. You use a matching force to the violence.