Six arrested for tearing PP cloth
Some six Lilongwe residents—five Malawians and a Rwandese—are in police custody for allegedly tearing and attempting to burn a People’s Party (PP) campaign cloth.
Four—Wezzie Dunza, 25, from Nkhata Bay; Peter Witonzie, 28, from Rwanda; Brian Kumwenda, 23, from Mtwalo in Mzimba and Chifundo Chilembwe, 27, from Namatchuwa in Chikhwawa—were arrested for allegedly tearing PP cloth at Parliament Roundabout on Saturday around 02:45 in the morning.
“These have been charged with tearing campaign materials,” said Lilongwe Police spokesperson Ramsy Mushani
The other two—Sunge Kalume 25 from Mulumbe, Zomba and Chiyembekezo Masache, 24, from Khosolo in Mzimba—also arrested around the same time, were allegedly caught attempting to burn PP cloth at Parliament.
“We found them with tissue and matches attempting to set the cloth on fire,” said Mushani.
The two were driving a Toyota Corolla BN4646 apparently coming from a beer place, some 300 metres away and stopped by to burn the cloth just hours before President Joyce Banda launched her campaign at Civo Stadium.
The six deny the charges and have since been released on court bail pending trial.
The arrests come when memories are still fresh of political fracas in Thyolo reportedly sparked by party supporters removing campaign materials of a rival camp.
