Malawians demand heads of Police and Stadium management heads over fatal stampede

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Malawians have called for heads to roll at Malawi Police Service and for a proper inquiry to be conducted following Thursday’s stampede which left at least 8 dead and scores injured.

According to reports, the tragedy at Bingu National Stadium was caused by the police as they fired teargas at people who wanted to gain access into the stadium to be part of Malawi’s Independence Day celebrations.

Commenters on Malawi24 stories on the tragedy said that organizers could have done better in managing the event with many noting that the stadium management did not only delay in opening the gates but also erred by opening only two gates.

One commenter named Wilson Shamie said people arrived at the stadium as early as 5 AM but the police prevented them from entering into the stadium.

“Thousands gathered outside and at 9 AM they (police) opened the gate expecting thousands to enter peacefully at the opened gate, results are death of poor innocent people which is all due to poor planning and organising,” he said.

While James Amuje Chunda chipped in saying: “I thought the stadium is the biggest in Malawi and could be having a lot of entrances, why didn’t they just open all gates and let people flood in instead of teargasing  them. This is police cruelty and brutality.”

Other readers said the police should be held responsible for the deaths since they ignited the chaos by firing teargas at the crowd which had lined up to enter the stadium.

“A police onse anali ku stadium ko (All police officers who were at the stadium) must be arrested for causing death of innocent kids and an adult. Pasakhaleso zokambirana,” said Omega Bema.

While Jostino Mnthambala said: It is high time our police is trained in crowd control skills apart from using teargas. Our police is obsessed with teargas as a means of controlling crowds.”

Following the tragedy, the planned celebrations went on and the last activity was a football match between Silver Strikers and Nyasa Big Bullets. But Malawians felt the celebrations should have been cancelled to mourn the dead.

“Cancel the event forthwith,” said Richard Clarence Longwe. “It’s not a celebration anymore but a national tragedy.”

 

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72 Comments

  1. The thing is why they were opening late as, if it is they were tickets to get in? The problm mst go to the one who ordered the police to do so!

  2. Iiiiiiiiiii choyamba ndipepese a malawi anzarhu omwe ataya abale pangoziyi. Imfa ndi yowawa maka ya ngozi . Apa tingathe kunena zambiri koma taonani afa ambiri ndi ana omwe kuthawa kunawavuta abale pepani tiwaganizire anzathu omwe ataya ana kapena abale awo pamene tikuika ndemanga chonde.

  3. Zinali ngat kuza gulu ya mapassangers kuti min bus ndyaulere tiyen kweran Osasamala za Capacity!! Whether it was free of Charge Or Not but giving advance ticket Is the best Solution To The Capacity Exceedings..POOR Managements

  4. Kodi apolice inu ku training mumaphunzilako za ma teagas eti?Inuyo kuziwa kuphulitsa mateagas pali ana sichoncho?.Ena akutilanda nyanja uko,ngati mumaziwa kuphulitsa mateagas osapita komwe akutilanda nyanjako bwa?.Chimene muziwa inu ndimatama kuphulitsa pagulu pali ana sichoncho.Ife tikudikira tione zomwe apange amene mukuti ndimabwana anuwo,popeza mumapanga iwo alipompo.Apolice inu ngati mumatengj malamulo m’manja mwanumo,tsiku lina nafe tizatenga m’manja mwathumu,muzatimva kuwawa.Ana osalakwa lero kutaya miyoyo yao chifukwa chainu amene mukuti ndinu apolice.R.I.P.

  5. I believe that each n every malawian has an obligation to conduct himself or herself in amanner that is likely to preserve peace safety should be apriority to each n every citizen Police should just complement our efforts.if. not then police will always be blamed for everything that goes out of order.Remember police officer are our own sons n daughters they are also citizens of our nation n have also responsibilities in their families y do you wish them bad No lets love one another.together. we can workout astrategy to prevent this kind of tragedy.

  6. Stadium stampedes, roofs of stadiums ,stands ,security fences ,podiums falling in are common through out the world,preventive measures are a solution,

  7. Ana aang’ono ngati amene aja amakatani Ku stadium??? Mai awo anali kuti?? Ndiudindo wathu makolo kusamala ndi kuteteza ana athu, a police sangatisamalire ana

  8. Somebody get me in line pliz! enafe we didnt manage to be there.. . u mean kuti anthu anabwera in attendance of the ceremonial activities and nthawi yolowa itakwana the police scoped in and fired some teargas To the crowd? for what? Zinatani kweni-kweni?

  9. and u r weting the dy of judgement yet u know de truth …and u about 2 tel us that u nid de witnesses and lawyer 4 de same case ….MWs mark my words de case will take about years yet they konw beta wat happened….may their soul rest in peace and wishing others well recover Chiso Wa Ness Govat

  10. Iwe David do u thk kt ose amene amwarila kumeneko ndi a Chewa ??iwe mbunz stupt manyi yamunthu iwe mbunzi u dnt knw kt lilongwe inapanga mix ndi anthu ambli???

  11. PA MALAWI U POLICE WAPHWEKA.KU TRAINING KUMANGOPITILAKO ZOKAPHUZILA ZOPHULISA MA TEARGAZ BAS.NANE NDITUMIZAKO AGARU ANGA, AKAPHUZILE ZOMWEZO. MA POLICE ANALI AJA A KAMUZU, OSUNGA NGODYA ZINALI OSAT ABAKHAWA A LERO-WA.

  12. The organisers are to blame.They made entrance to the stadium free for such a big event.The stadium has a capacity of 75,000 seats.A huge event like a national event plus a soccer match at a stadium is fuel for a disaster.How could they know that 75,000 people or less could turn up at a FREE event? Most likely over 75,000 people if not over several times that amount (150,000? 300,000?) might have turned up making the work of police almost impossible.The organisers should have made close to 75,000 tickets (or permits) available to the public several days in advance.Whether the tickets were to be free or not is the issue but that would have kept the crowds within manageable levels because no one without a ticket/permit would not turn up or come into precincts of the stadium.With crowds numbering well beyond the sitting capacity of the stadium (maybe several times over) disaster was inevitable with or without teargas.If a ticket system was in place we likely could not have the tragedy.

  13. YES NDIPO ZIMENEZO NDIFUNIKA ANTHU AMENEWA AYANKHE MILANDU YOPHA ANTHU OSALAKWA POPANDA KUNYENGELERANA AYIIIIIII NDIPO NDINE OKWIYA KWAMBIRI

  14. if you say we are stupid then you are ignorant the word stampede was already there in vocabulary if you have nothing to say just shutup!

  15. umbuli a police pa Malawi Ku training kopita Sunday ena m c e alibe analowa chifukwa cha ankolo awo mukuganiza KT angapange zolongosoka fuck them u have to pay this

    1. kodi ameneyu akuyankhula ngati wanzeru bwanji koma ili mbuli yaikulu bwanji? Iwe uli ndi degree pomwe ulipo? You are very stupid, ukhala ophunzira sikuti anzako avutike nawe wamva?

  16. I am not among those Malawians. the thing is that Malawians are useless n stupid except me n my family. why can’t you try to discipline yourselves in such occasions? you always want police officers to do that. pena pake tisamaoneke opemphela kapena a chisoni kwambri. munthu wachedwa koma amakafikila kutsogolo kulowelera yemwe wabwela kale. don’t blame the police officers. blame those stupid chewa people who have no manners. case closed

    1. Polankhula mosatengela mtundu koma kunena zowona imfa iyi ndi yoiputa dala chifukwa zinali zotheka kupewa, pena pake a Malawife timaganiza ngati nkhuku ndithu

    2. Gati ulim’modzi wa police ndiwe you are afool & stupid kapena mwina pa ngulu la apolice paliwachibale wako? why ukuwabakira? l had never seein useless person like you do u know that ambiri apolice masikuano amalembedwa ntchito m’chinyengo? anthu gati amenewa do u think kuti angwire ntchito moyenelera? gati unena amalawi kuti ndizitsilu lwe ndiwe tombolombo

    3. So U Mean Those Who Are Dead Are Stupid? Wht If It Oz Ur Family Membr Wil U Stil Come N Tolk Lik Ds Or Mayb U Want God To T-chi U Some Leson By Takn Away Dat 1 U Rely On Haah! THNK B4 U TALK BRO ILI NDI ZIKO ANYTHN CAN HAPPN SOON OR LETER ANZAKO AKULIRA UZITI THY ARE STUPID NDAKUMVERA CHISONI MBARE (RIP INNOCENT KIDS)

    4. You are so stupid if you think like that. The police and stadium management had a responsibility to make sure of the safety of the people and it clearly shows they failed on that one and they must answer for that.

    5. @Ray,you couldn’t be stupid but rather a rabid fox.Because you are completely blank on what you are talking about.Your preamble depicts a spoilt child high on substances.

    6. Cosmas and Ackim: your assertions describes your primitive life that you have grown up with.That facility belongs to the youths as old as ten and above as opposed to adults.

    7. stop lamenting here. .. why barking on my comment? actually u can’t change my perception n it remain like that … I see some fake people trying to play innocent game here. stop pointing fingers. do u want someone to be monitoring u in everything u do? what kind of sstupidity is that? I would like to advise u not to talk shit again

    8. My first time in BINGU STADIUM was a Mw-Madagascar game, I saw many Children ranging 7-10years..they were moving around the stadium with no guidians of which were not watching the game.

      I had two questions in my mind
      1. Where are their guidians?
      2. I refreshed my mind & think of EPL soccer i usually watch on screen i came with this question;Does this parental neglegence happens in Europe?

      I figured it out that we are far away from parental care.

      Yes God cares us but you cant delibarately lay yourself on the road

  17. The problem with MPS officers is that they don’t know when and where to fire tear gas. Now with their unproffesionalism they have caused deaths of innocent souls. Sure these people need civic education

    1. Whether I was there or not I still insist that the police did not act professionally when they were controlling the crowd

    2. Akulu police apa inathandiza,inu kunalibe,anathila teargas ti control uncontrolable crowd,gulu lomwe limaphana pofuna kulowa.mund yiu anthuwa afa nthawi yolimbilana nt ya teargas kws ife tinaona.

  18. We Are In The Same Shoes..& Those That Were On Duty Yesterday At The Bingu National Stadium And They Are Heavily Connected With The STAMPEDE Should Either Face The Chop Or Risk Being Arrested For Causing Fatal Stampede..Those Youngsters That Have Died (R I P) And 62 Injured Have Left Every Responsible Malawian With Mouth Agape..

  19. An enquiry Mr president is most needed here! We need to make sure this does not happen again ever! We have wasted youth worthy 8 lives of Malawian Youth! We need to know why how and what rule is in place to manage the situation better next time. This will also sooth the ones who have lost children.noting can bring them back but lets care properly and lets explain.

Comments are closed.