US embassy cable - 04LILONGWE147

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000147 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, CASC, PINR, MI, Political, Humanitarian 
SUBJECT: POLICE OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION POLITICAL RALLY; 
TWO INJURED 
 
 
SUMMARY 
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1. (SBU) At a February 22 political rally of the opposition 
Mgwirizano Coalition, police fired on the crowd, injuring two 
people.  The rally, which the police claimed could not take 
place because the President was holding his own rally in the 
vicinity, resumed later after Coalition leaders obtained a 
court injunction.  The two victims have reportedly been 
treated and released from the hospital, and no AmCits are 
known to have been injured.  Shenanigans with rally permits 
and the police's heavy-handed crowd control methods appear to 
be part of a pattern of UDF attempts to undermine and prevent 
opposition parties from holding public meetings. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) Kholiwe Mkandawire, Spokesperson for the Coalition, 
told polfsn that the Coalition had requested and received 
permission to hold a rally at Njamba Freedom Park in Blantyre 
on February 22.  However, just before the rally was to begin, 
the police delivered a handwritten letter from the Blantyre 
City Assembly Chief Executive barring the rally from taking 
place.  According to Mkandawire, the letter said the rally 
had to be canceled because the President was holding a ruling 
United Democratic Front (UDF) rally 7 kilometers away from 
Njamba Freedom Park.  In attempts to disperse the crowd of 
thousands, the police reportedly fired several rounds of tear 
gas and blank bullets before changing to live ammunition. 
 
3. (U) Two people were reportedly shot.  The hospital 
administration told polfsn that the two gunshot victims were 
treated yesterday.  In stable condition, both patients have 
been released from the hospital.  To post's knowledge, no 
AmCits were injured. 
 
4. (SBU) Amid the confusion, the police tried to dismantle 
the speaker's platform, which the Coalition had paid the City 
Assembly approximately USD 50 to construct.  Coalition 
leaders, however, sought and received a court injunction 
allowing the rally to take place.  Later in the afternoon, on 
a partially dismantled platform, Coalition presidential 
candidate Gwanda Chakuamba addressed the remaining supporters. 
 
COMMENT 
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5. (SBU) Malawian police have a history of heavy-handed crowd 
control, and it is almost exclusively wielded against 
opposition rallies and demonstrations.  President Muluzi's 
decision to hold a simultaneous UDF rally in the vicinity of 
the Coalition's was reportedly a last-minute development. 
This was no coincidence, and we see a pattern appearing where 
the ruling UDF prevents opposition parties from holding 
public meetings through manipulating rally permits (mainly by 
re-scheduling its own rallies wherever and whenever the 
opposition plans to meet) and by heavy-handed police tactics. 
 The police-inspired violence at the Mgwirizano Coalition's 
first major rally are signs of rising political tensions and 
an increasingly polarized society, and it bodes ill for the 
prospects of a peaceful campaign leading to the May 18 
elections.  END COMMENT. 
BROWNING