{"id":378488,"date":"2011-04-12T16:59:34","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T16:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/12\/mass-arrests-block-pro-democracy-rally\/"},"modified":"2011-04-12T16:59:34","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T16:59:34","slug":"mass-arrests-block-pro-democracy-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/12\/mass-arrests-block-pro-democracy-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass Arrests Block  Pro-Democracy Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"52.236044657097\">\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/><!-- close google_banner_mid div ---><\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.english.rfi.fr\/africa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/7305b8cerfi-logo-en.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Radio France Internationale (Paris)\" title=\"Visit Radio France Internationale (Paris)\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- begin story layout piece here --><\/p>\n<p>12 April 2011<\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>Swaziland police arrested scores of people on Tuesday ahead of a planned march for democracy. Witnesses complained that hundreds of activists were beaten to stop them carrying out the banned protest.<\/p>\n<p>Police had set up roadblocks to prevent vehicles carrying protesters from reaching the city of Manzini, where the rally was due to take place.<\/p>\n<p><!-- close google_inset_a div ---><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They started by targeting the leadership of the trade union movement, they detained almost all of them,&#8221; Zakhele Mabuza, spokesman for the banned opposition People&#8217;s United Democratic Movement of Swaziland (Pudemo) told RFI.<\/p>\n<p>Then anyone else known to belong to unions or political organisations was also arrested, Mabuza says, along with anyone wearing red &#8211; the protest movement&#8217;s chosen colour.<\/p>\n<p>Those detained were taken to regional police headquarters in trucks, he says.<\/p>\n<p>Other people complained of being hit with batons and fired on with teargas and water cannon. Several foreign journalists were also detained.<\/p>\n<p>According to a police spokesperson, the demonstrators were arrested because of reports that they planned to overthrow the government.<\/p>\n<p>The protest, called by a coalition of civil society and trade unions, was prompted by several issues, explains Zakhele Mabuza, the chief demand being political reform.<\/p>\n<p>Swaziland has been ruled for the past 25 years by King Mswati III, an absolute monarch said to have a personal fortune of more than 70.6 million euros.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This system of governance in Swaziland is outdated, it is undemocratic, it is not giving any tangible positives or development for the people,&#8221; Mabuza says. &#8220;It is high time that we introduce constitutional, multi-party democracy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The protest was banned by the authorities, who arrested several of its organisers over the past week.<\/p>\n<p>It follows a large demonstration last month in Mbabane.<\/p>\n<p><i><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.english.rfi.fr\/africa\/20110412-mass-arrests-block-swazi-pro-democracy-rally\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read or Listen to this story on the RFI website<\/a><\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n<p><!-- end story layout piece here --><\/p>\n<p><!-- close google_banner_subbody div ---><\/p>\n<fieldset>\n<legend align=\"center\"><b>More News on allAfrica.com<\/b><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p>AllAfrica &#8211; All the Time<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>See more here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/201104121139.html\" title=\"Mass Arrests Block  Pro-Democracy Rally\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mass Arrests Block  Pro-Democracy Rally<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 12 April 2011 Swaziland police arrested scores of people on Tuesday ahead of a planned march for democracy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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