MZUZU-(MaraviPost)-The Anti Quota System demonstrations which took place this afternoon in Rumphi District turned violent after students from Rumphi Secondary School and others in the district started breaking into shops and teachers’ houses.
According to one of the teachers at Rumphi Secondary School who sought anonymity, the organisers of the demos started peaceful, but the situation escalated when students were taken to join the match.
“The situation was peaceful, but the students have made it worse because they started to break into houses of their own teachers. And here they are now breaking shops in town. The demonstrations would be peaceful had the students not joined,” lamented the teacher.
However, one of the organisers of the demos, who is also responsible for Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) in the district, Maya Walita, blames the police; claiming that they beat some of the demonstrators and used teargas on them.
“I have been roughed up by one of the officers, simply because I went to ask them why they were manhandling one of us instead of providing security, and that was enough reason for one of them to start slapping me,” said Walita.
As we went press, Officer-in-Charge for Rumphi Police, Inspector Ulemu Kaluwa, said Walita should have reported the matter to police if he was indeed abused by the officers.
Anti Quota Movement is holding demonstrations in all the districts of the Northern Region to force government to nullify the 2019 Standard 8 selection results which have allegedly favoured students from the Southern and Central Regions of the country.
