We did nothing wrong in stadium stampede – Police

Jul 11, 2017 Politics 97
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Stampede

Malawi Police have insisted that the use of teargas during the stampede at Bingu National Stadium on Independence Day was not wrong.

The Police have said this following heavy criticism from many Malawians and human rights activists that what the law enforcers did by firing teargas at people who were trying to get into the Bingu National Stadium was bad.

James Kadadzera
James Kadadzera says the law enforcers not at fault.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera has told the press that the use of the teargas is situational as they use it to prevent crowds from causing deaths and injuries.

“The use of the teargas is situational, you can’t say that you will use it in this way, it is used according to the situation.

“In whatever case teargas is used in good course to prevent injuries, damages, something like that,” he said.

Meanwhile the law enforcers’ publicist has said his office will make a statement on the matter after investigators release their reports concerning the issue.

“I will be able to comment on this matter after the release of the reports,” concluded Kadadzera.

Eight people died during the stampede as they were trying to get into the stadium to watch Independence Day activities that included a game between Nyasa Big Bullets and Silver Strikers.

Over 60 people reportedly sustained injuries during the tragedy and some of them are still receiving treatment at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe.

 

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97 Comments

  2. Nthawi yikakwana yakwana basi,aliyense ali ndi tsiku ndi njira zosiyanasiyana zopitila kumwamba, zonse akudziwa ndi ambuye, May Their Souls Continue Resting in Peace!!

  3. don’t defend urself guys wat u did it just shows unprofessionalism u can’t see how many pipo lost their life n yet u r saying u didn’t do anything wrong mmmmmh shame on u which allowance u received up to do dat traitors

  7. Don’t make me mad with your stupidity backing point, which security department has teargas here in Malawi?
    You always kill innocent people as if you didn’t trained very well why?
    If you know that you can’t manage to provide security to the citizens just tell the government rather than killing people like that, you need to accept and apologise to Malawian for the course of death of innocent people.

  9. Vuto ndi otsegula mageti chifukwa chotsegula mochedwa nthawi ya kamuzu amatsegula bwanji usiku anthu akanati azingofikila kulowa vuto ndi chani mageti atatsegulidwa anthu akutsogolo ndikugwa poyamba kupondana ndipamene apolice anaponya teargas coz pakanapanda teargas ndithu anthu akanafa ambiri koma uyu otsegula stadium yu ndithu anaonongetsa miyoyo ya anthu zimenezi zinachitikanso mbuyomu ku state house ku zomba kamuzu atapita kokayendera mbewu mageti ndikutsekedwa.

  10. Kufa kwa ndi kuvulala kwa wanthu sizikhuzana ndi chipani chilichonse kumalawiko.Ndi ngozi basi,kodi munthu akagundidwa ndi galimoto, or akabaza akagunda munthu ndiye kuti ndi vuto la D PP? Ndi zinthu ziwili zolekana ngozi ndi chipani, Mizimu ya abalewo iUusee muntendele wambuye

  12. When people were congregating before the opening of the stadium didn’t they knew that there will be a problem when opening the gates?They always enforce people to be on lines as a measure of peace and order,what made them not to do like this as they always do though the gates were not opened? They were waiting for a problem to arise that they can start teargasing the people? They looked down a problem and on top of that,they are lacking very good working strategies of how they could handle difficult situations like these. They need to accept as they have failed and at the same sport they have ashamed the whole country for failing to provide safety to it’s citizens.We learn through mistakes it’s understandable though it is still paining we must always get ready for this not to happen again,we go there to the stadium to relax and not to die.

  15. Zizakhala zolakwika akazafa ana anu or abale anu koma sinanga afawa ndi agalu akumtandire ndie muli ndi mphanvu zonse zoyakhula…..God is watching

  17. Most Malawian police officers use their physical powers in most cases rather than their brains because they are school dropouts. Recruit more graduates, dont be jealous that they will take your posts. We want reform at mps!

  18. If tear gas wasnt used, nobody would have died. A police amati lamulo liri m’manja mwao. Now they r saying they did nothing wrong…..shame. If you were taken by them to their station, interrogated, and you answer ‘I DID NOTHING WRONG’ ooh, you Are in hot soup, ooh, they beat you to hell. They caused these deaths

  20. It seams better if death comes to someone not you ,yes I mean not you.but in true sense firing teargas caused those caltuaties not to see proper henceforth falls down and stepped upon …,Lord have mercy yaa

  21. poor strategy on the part of police.over three hundred policemen but unaccompanied children made it to the gate.is that professional? next time try to advise and recommend the good time of opening the gates.deploy officers at the bridge to check and deter under and unaccompanied minors from mtandire and mtsiliza.do the same at shire Gulliver and 18b junctions. avoid carrying guns and other lethal weapons to a stadium. its not war.an officer with a gun cant control crowd. how? he cares the weapon not crowd controlling. police in the past managed events at civo in lilongwe. why not this time. ? somebody is failing his duty.

  22. Wrong platform to refute any wrong doing. Let them answer that before a reputable commission of inquiry. Inquest for 6/7 stampede now!

  23. Looks like the only crowd control measure the MPS knows is the use of teargas. When the gates were not being opened and the crowd was swelling at the gates the police should have sensed trouble and come up with measures to manage the crowd because it should have been clear at least one hour before gate opening that there would be a rush. What measures did the police put in place to manage the rush? Looks they were taken by surprise and were not prepared.

  25. Anafa aja panopa ayamba kutuluka mphutsi kuwola kumanda siyani kukamba zopusa pankhani yachisoniyi.mphuntsizo 2019 zisananduka mamiliyoni amavoti ochotsera Pitala pampando.whether u like it or not God ‘ll answer our crying

  26. Tear Gas may be used to Surpress a RIOT during Mutiny or Demonstrations.Was there any VIOLENCE or DAMAGE caused b4 the deaths ?

  31. I discover foolishness & negligence that is rubbish & nonsense,at the stadium panali tiyana tambiriri,panali chigulu NDE ana ena amakomoka ndi teargass ameneyo,were there any type of vandalization for them to act in that way they r seeking sympathy of invading from justice, police were the cause of tragedy deaths there no matter why & how . if they deny let them list down 10 functions of Teargas did they not gone to school (1: (2:……….kulepera kugwira akuba kuphesa anthu osalakwa ,I tell u if death is in your house is painful especially in those circumstances

  34. What a disgrace for th MPS to say this at such an early stage. Izi ndi zomwe zinazmuvuta nzawo Riah Piyega when she said the SA police had done a good job atapha anthu ku Marikana. Zimafunika kudeka nkufufuza kaye. For now tamangotini investigations are underway. Komanso it’s worrying that the MPS can say the use of teargas ilibe ma confined situations. Totally ignorant statement. And apapa u say u use the gas to prevent injury blablabla, ndiyeno how can that be achieved in a situation like ya lu stadium ija wen every sane person should have known kuti teargas firing could only lead to confusion?

  35. SEVEN DEAD CHILDREN. AND THE PARENTS SHOULD READ “we did nothig wrong in the stadium stampede”. To hell with you. I wish this country had a civil war. We have too many trigger happy police officers/militants who only know how to shoot someone with their back turned. One of the WORST MOMENTS IN MALAWI HISTORY.

    2. This country needs to stand up eventually. Either after you’ve lost everything or when you realize you need to stand up for your human rights. Malawi is in a bubble my friend.

  37. Stop blame shifting game. Why did they used tear had from the first place. That was unprofessional. Accept your sin so that it won’t happen again. Who was fighting or who was life threatening. The force used was unnecessary at all. So if you say its not your faulty then who is responsible for this. As police its a security enforcement of government. So I am sure they are trained to handle cases like this in a different way. I glad next time no more this 6 July campaign.

  38. Koma dpp yi nde zochita zake zokuphadi and anazolowera kupha anthu osalakwa anthu wa ndipo mu July nso mokha mokha….simunatsegule msanga stadium kuti ma cadet alowe Kaye ngati kuti inali party function

  39. according to Natioanal Police Spokesperson, ”The use of teargas is situatioal as they use it to prevent crowds from death and injuries.” So my question is , what kind of prevention he is talking about?, hence Police speeded up deaths and injuries by using teargas at scene. Damage is already done, I think is good for them to accept their mistakes.

  41. Yes very true Police have done nothing wrong. Do police own BNS iwowa ali ndi bwalo lawo Nankhaka. Munaonapo ku Nankhaka anthu akufa chonchija? The blame should go to the one who was the incharge of the gate opening and closing. The police were there not as gate keys but as security officials. Police security does not go beyond stampede and that police were hired to professionally act on malpractice behaviours of which the stampede is null and void kind of situation. Police are clean in this scenario……Thanks.

    2. If they were there for security,which security are you referring to if not of life and property.And any case where there was a big event including a football match they supposed to ready themselves for anything not limited to rioting.

    3. Tear gas samapha munthu ndipo a police akamauser tear gasi pamakhala kuti pamalopo pali ziwawa.
      Koma moyo wa lelo imfa ikuthamanga tiyeni tivomeleze basi zimachitika

    4. Who hired the police? Blame those who hired the police not the police. Assuming youre eating and accidentally you bite your tongue, what do you blame between the food youre eating and the tooth that has bite your tongue? Again youre walking and mwangozi wapunthwa. Where do you push the blame between you toes, eyes for not seeing it and a stake that has damaged your toes?

    5. I dont think Police has to control such cases in the name of Security. Ifenso a Malawi tilinso ndi udindo wopanga zinthu mwanzeru. vuto ku Malawi kuno timadudukira zinthu za ulere mapeto ake timakanganirana zinthu zoti tikhonza kupanga mwamtendere and live a confortable life. So this case as I say the blame should go to those who were directly involved in the stampede. Blame those who directly saw that someone is down and they continually stepped on that person to death. Tear gas was used after the situation had already gone sour so Our police are innocent in this case…….. Case on Police is closed tiyeni tikambe zina izi zatha.

    6. Someone is asking me about tear gas. Is tear gas affect miyendo kapena maso? if tear gas was used it means police targetted eyes not feets. We are talking about stampede case here and if police used tear gas to dispense people means that people were running away to protect their eyes not feet or foot. So stampede and tear gas are two different cases here. First look at the cause of the stampede and the think deep on why the police had to use tear gas thirdly take your time to think why the even like that one the gate were closed until all those people had to gather outside. People who died MTSRIP these did not slept at the stadium over night but they came in the morning to the stadium so the one who was put in charge of opening the gate was to be proactive and open these gates around 7:00 in the morning and people were to enter without pressure. So lets push the blame to the Stadium authorities for not opening the gates in good time.

    7. If police didn’t have control in such case ok fair enough. But why were they involved with teargas if they don’t have control. That shows they acted in out of control that’s why they caused havoc and they were suppose to leave it in people in control.

    8. I don’t agree with you, #Moses, unless if you’re a fake policeman trying to defend yourself but not on humanitarian grounds. If the police were professional on that day:
      1. The stampede wouldn’t be there because they would’ve controlled the crowd.
      2. They wouldn’t have fired tear-gas to the already panic crowd, that was aggravating the stampede and not controlling,

    9. Pringstone Kaunda At what time were you at the stadium? We all knew that the event will take place at BNS and adverts were done in good time. So the stadium authorities were to use that in their planning. Those people who went to the stadium knew about it before that date. All what Im saying is that the gates were supposed to open as early as 7:00 so that people entered the stadium piecefully. Not the issue of fake policeman as youre saying. Have you ever seen a fake policeman in your life? if you have seen that personally ever seen a fake policeman what did you do about it? mukuyambanso nkhani zina apa. Take the police out of this case consider the stampede as a national tragedy and the cause of the stampede is late opening of the gate with unknown reasons why the gate was opened at that late hour so that people had to scramble entering their own property.

    10. I totally agree with you #Pringstone. Its a shame the police refuse to take responsibility for their carelessness use of power. The police for the longest have felt like their the ones on top of the food chain when it comes to “police & community” relations. Thats why they have a bad track record already. This is BY FAR NOT SUPRISING that they don’t feel the slightly shame or empathy for their actions. To them, its like “who are you going to run to?We are the authority.”.

    11. Let me tell you people how police systems work. When you hire police to work at your venue which will gather more that 100 pax, they come to the venue in lets say days before the real event and the police checks all the security measures and put forward any precautions to the organisers about what they have noticed could be a security threat in future during the event. Police measures how much force is to be used in terms of how many people are required and what kind of armour and security equipment are to be supposed to accompany the guarding service. The police also look into the issues of general public behaviour aspect and set a team of professionals to deal with any vagabonds and or insurgents or whatever term you may use. Then the police writes down a report to the organisers to confirm security full sets. Now coming to the issue of BNS tradegy. I personally believes the police had sent the relevant security check report and precautions to the relevant authorities. And the relevant authorities may have jeoprdised the precaution given to them from police may be because this year’s 53rd independence celebrations seem to have been politically reinforced and may be the authorities pondered if the general public enters the stadium in advance they may be NO place to seat the in coming party handcrappers and other blue blue boys and girls and women and men. So the team of organisers were in dipsycho(double minded)kind of stand either to open the gates at early hours and the general public who among of them are not party sympathisers and occupy the seats before the party sympathisers OR The organisers forced themselves to pile up the general public outside the stadium waiting for the blue blue team to come and occupy the seats first and then every else comes later, henceforth, ignoring the precaution report from the police. Lets also think about this in this way. Not just blaming the police. Police will always follow what the organnisers wants If the organisers say we are not opening the gate at 7:00 am but 10:00 am people know that police will only sent forward their Precaution report to the organisers and if the organisers have their own interest then the police power is disolved and follow the order of the organisers. But in the cases of piece disorder thats when the police will work according to their security bounds and use the readily available security equipment or gadget to at least sober up the situation or reinstall the order and calm down the disbounded. So when Im telling you that Police is clean in this saga please understand and if you want you can ask any person who is well knowledgeable in Police rules of engangement and orders. Police will never ever work outside the organisers core value.

    12. Ok,if you say a security survey and its findings could have been presented to the organisers gave the police a go ahead which means the police was ill equipped in terms of manned security which could’ve been put up as a cordoning shield instead of the deadly teargas.

    13. Im now having a clear picture that most Malawian citizens do not know what the name POLICE means. Knowing the Police and knowing the duties of police are two different things. Knowing the duty of police and knowing what the law and order the police has to follow is also different. Knowing the Police police and knowing which rule of engangement the police follows is also different. Knowing the stampede and knowing the cause of stampede is different. Knowing the death and knowing the cause of death is also very big difference. Knowing the organisers and knowing who is managing the actions of organisers is also parallel different. Knowing Malawi as a country and knowing how Malawi is governed is different Knowing to post comments on facebook and knowing how facebook works is also different. Knowing the BNS gates and knowing who was supposed to open it is different. Knowledge and power are different. A Leader and Leadership are different. The 53rd Independence Celebrations and the way government handled it is also different. The adverts and the face on the advert of the state president hanging of independence celebration was also different and incorrect. The way the flags were set on some events of that 6 July was also different and errored. So in all these lets say the BNS was Errored and the Police did not errored to use teargas. Also some of us the general public errored to scramble entering the gates and stepping on our fellow citizens to death. Im sure now you friends have realised that on that day almost 99.9% of activities all had some errors. Stampede itself also was errored because it brought deaths to innocent young bloods. Thanks!

    14. Humbly can you please take off your comment out of hear if not tell the malpractice you say were @ the stadium until reaching the point of using gas ? Do you accept that tear gas can kill you? Do you know how death pains?

    15. You Medson Chawinga better sit down and seep coffee at your house and watch soccer at piece. It seems youre not in the same line with this debate. Do you personally know how death pains? Have you personally died and resurrected to tell ask me this question? Come on bwana be at piece and concentrate on your business simple. Ivi tilekerani ise tiyowoye na banthu aba bakusumba nyama zambula kupya.

    16. Telling facts and reciting poetry in reference to tragedy of such magnitude are different alltogether.Police must accept responsibillity until proven otherwise.

    18. Kkkƙƙkk!!! seriously we don’t lack any poets here in this debate to gulliblise our stand.Anyway lets wait for the police report.But i have appreciated your side equally.

    19. I mean if there were no single pouring of gas by the police would we have seen / experienced this tragedy in any way answer me plz

    20. Medson Chawinga The police headquarters or offices are not at BNS. Who brought the police at BNS? Why did the organiser fail to pick any other guarding services angoti mbwe pamsikawa instead they fetched the police wherever they were and brought them to BNS. NOW Its your turn to answer me. What do you think the police could have done to sober that situation without using force? Answer me professionally.

    21. MY Friend duties of police mainly is to bring peace & order,the word who brought the out of concern,it was gvts function which the police were suppose to perform there duty automatically without any order from somewhere but because lack of professionalism by the police they neglected causes death by tear gas ,to keep peace & order by police does not goes only using teargas,watch it out u will agree with demotion are awaited to some of them, policemen are mostly the role players of causing those pains .

    22. So do you mean each and every government function Police are supposed to be there to guard? No I don’t think you’re right bwana to say Police went there because it was a government function. So why don’t you blame the government for not taking it core precautionary measures in advance

    24. I am not a police woman but a lot of and even more lives could have been lost apart from those who lost their lives if they had not been dispersed with teargas. I mean more people could be stamped on and others could suffocate to death. Therefore, dispersal of the stamped was the only solution. The gatemen were really directly to blame.

    25. I agree with Mercent Wa Mthuzi. I think youre genious and a good judge as well… Police work is merely to bring back order where there is an existing disorder. So that fracas was due to late opening of the gates and people were disordered so police had to dispense them with tear gases. Police could not go to person by person to say in our vernacular Inu siyani muchitazi mapeto ake mupwetekana. who can hear them? But everyone will directly respond to tear gas. Malawian need force for them to follow the rules and regulation otherwise No actually a BiG NO!

  45. anakakhala afa ndi apolice bwenzi zonsezi kulibe imfa ya wa police amabungwe saona ngakhale kulankhulapo koma taking photos showing how he/ she has been killed or murdered btn the organizers and the police who r to b blamed????? infact lets stop pointing fingure @ one another tipempelele dziko lathu hope God has got answers ticedwa mkulozana dzala

    1. Stop being arrogant. The police have resources to investigate if one of their own is in trouble. So you want police to investigate themselve with watchdog. Have life the kids died here because of irresponsibility of someone. And the public have a right to know exactly what happen

    2. mmmm inu ine ndanena kale zolozana dzalazo simkupanga awo get my point clear osamangizolowera kutsutsa zilizonse if u knw u n me we dont have enough resources why r u here kutsutsana ndine ? nobody is to blame here myoyo ya ana osalakwayi yapita cz of ife akuluakulu cz mkutheka anawa cz of misinkhu yawo sadaonedwe pakati pa akuluakulupo mkumangopondedwa mizimu yawo iwuse muntendere anawa inunso muli ndi responsibility yoteteza mwana bwana michael mkandawire

  48. yes ttrue sanalakwedi zikanakhla anthu sanafe koma stadium nkuonongeka anthu nomwenu mupanga blame police kt mmene anthu amaononga stadium apolice anali kt?? ine sindikuwapexela chifukwa apolice

  50. “thy kingdom come ,thy become justification for wrong doing “- Sir Rudolph Hess(Germany)

    so there was nothing wrong with firing teargass to such a crowd? … ooooh yes the law enforcers sees nothing wrong with suchba situational instance.. when will our law enforcers see something wrong?

    during Tue chanco saga last yr.. after firing teargass to the innocent students who dint even partake the demo, our law enforcers thru pro….argued that they saw nothing wrong in teargassing

    during the NRC saga the same adjective followed.?

    it lives me less disired .. koz truth becomes reality @ a time wen that alter finds himself into such trouble … next it well n kadazeraz daughter being involved in the same….and by then the law enforcers will sy they see nothing wrong…… watch out that wat goes around komes around

  51. Kumeneko ndiye kuyankhula kopanda mzeru a police a kunyasalande alibe mzeru kaya chimakhala chili chiyani sindimabvetsetsa ngakhale pang’ono

  52. They can’t completely come out clean in this saga as its spokesperson failed to answer questions from stakeholders during Sunday round table debate at Capital fm.For instance which situation in their proffession calls for the use of teargas?Unbelievably the national PRO miserably failed to put curiousity to rest.

  53. Totally agree with them as tear gas is used when the situation z out of hand . The only reason z only delaying of opening the gates and nothing else .

    3. Not physically but media videos and looking at what police were doing moves me, wait until I grow like Binhlarden you will see. And i wish Hallamh to come here in malawi may be our dogs can stop all these sheet.

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