An angry mob on Monday afternoon burnt down Chilomoni Police sub-Station, two vehicles and a motorcycle in reaction to murder of their relation.
According to Foster Mangani, senior deputy commissioner who was at the scene when the incident took place, the man picked a fight with police officers at a drinking joint at Nthukwa, in the township, on Sunday night.
The victim, Dyson Mjojo aged 48 from Njobvu Village Traditional Authority Khwethemule in Thyolo district, was later found dead early yesterday near MDC Cemetery. His relations then mobilised themselves and went to a human rights based organisation to help them extract the truth of the matter from the police.
The body was later taken to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital for postmortem to establish the cause of the man’s death, but as the family was arranging the
funeral process, other members had gathered at the police station pushing the officers to tell the truth.
After failing to resolve the matter, the mob managed to set the police building on fire since there were only few officers at that moment.
Mangani narrated the ordeal, saying it was alleged that the victim was killed by police officers but they are investigating the matter. He blamed the mob for taking such a drastic action because they will need the police station someday.
“We are shocked with what happened today because we thought the relations to the deceased would understand that as police we are doing our best to establish what transpired but now this might jeopardise our search,” he said.
The Commissioner said no police officer was hurt and that all remandees were under control.
By the time our crew arrived at the scene, the mob had blocked the road leading to the police station and had gathered at MDC Stadium still shouting at the officers and the building was under conflagration.
Blantyre City Assembly fire engines fought with the flames as some police officers were rescuing their working equipment which had not yet caught fire.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the residents ransacked a Metro shop in the township, yesterday evening.
Leave a Reply