For the second time in under two weeks, police in Kitwe this morning returned to the street to disperse residents who are frustrated with the ruling Patriotic Front government’s service delivery firing teargas canisters and disrupting learning at Kalela Primary School in the process.
The residents, predominately from Kitwe’s Wusakile, are angry and ran amok over the erratic water supply being experienced in the area.
The residents were at it again when they fought running battles with the Zambia Police who rushed to the area to calm the situation which led to the blocking of the road leading to Mopani in the S.O.B Section.
The mob blocked the road and burnt tyres in protest of the erratic water supply in the area.
Police who rushed to the scene led by Kitwe District Officer Commanding Lizzie Peter Machina upon arrival wanted to dialogue with the residents but that did not go their way.
The residents started throwing stones at the police vehicles that later fired tear gas canisters without realising that there was a school nearby.
The angry resident who held on to their stones and other objects scampered in all directions but the situation became worse canister gases were diffused at a school near Kalela Primary School.
Pupils were later told to go home as some teachers where seen coughing after being chocked.
One of the female teachers told reporters that “we just saw people blocking roads early when reporting for work but I didn’t know things will get worse’
“The police we know it’s their duty but at times they must have courtesy, you don’t just fire canisters without looking around the premises,” one female teacher said.
And some police officers expressed shock that the school was affected with the tear gas canisaters.
“Bamudala sitinazibe ati penze ka sukulu apa but sili bad chifukwa benangu bakali kupunzila, bakazi nibovuta chabe, (big man we didn’t know there is a school nearby, but all the same its not very bad because others are still learning, women are just difficult to understand),” a junior police officer said in response to a teacher’s complaint.
The riot was the second incident residents in Chamboli and Wusakile showed their frustrations with the PF government. The Copperbelt gave PF the biggest victory margins during the 2011 elections and is seen as their stronghold but recent reports of suggests they have lost the plot.
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