Lilongwe, February 7: Police Friday said peace and calm have been restored in Lilongwe Old Town where riots broke out between police and vendors who were being moved out of illegal vending locations.
During the riots on Thursday, police arrested twenty two people for displaying conduct likely to cause breach of peace in Lilongwe over vending areas.
According to Lilongwe police station Public Relations Officer Kingsley Dandaula the twenty two people in custody were expected go to court on Monday.
‘’So far the situation is calm, there are police patrols in the city to make sure there are no riots but peace and order,” Dandaula told Mana.
Speaking on the same development, the Chairperson for the Lilongwe Market Ormah Jafali said the city council had given them a place for vending and asked them to move out of the streets.
“Things are going well now because people are happy with the strategy we have come up with and if any vendor is holding a place in the free market (but not using it) he or she is identified and forced to surrender the place and hand it over to those who don’t have any allocation,” said Jafali.
One of the vendors, Smart Bwanali told Mana on Friday that they were very happy with the situation and hailed the police for supporting the vendors.
