There was commotion on Tuesday night at Nsungwi Market in high-density residential area of 25 in Lilongwe after police fired teargas canisters “for no apparent reason.”
The ugly scene took place around 8 o’clock and took many unsuspecting residents by shock.
It all started when scores of C Company police officers invaded the area and were ferried by land cruisers as well as lorries.
After disembarking from their respective vehicles, in no time, the armed men in uniform started firing teargas randomly and later targeted a popular drinking joint known as Casaulina International Club.
This irked imbibers who had unexpectedly swallowed the vexing teargas.
This time, irate residents around the area started retaliating by pelting stones and other objects at police as well as at Nsungwi Police Unit.
Some residents were smoked out of their houses and were seen scampering with their weeping children, as they made their way to nearby health clinics for medical assistance.
An inside source within police said they were on their routine operation and on this night, they had raided so many places apart from Nsungwi.
But this version was dismissed by eyewitnesses, who accused police of being overzealousness.
Reports say the incident has left many injured while also leaving Club Casaulina with broken window panes and glasses.
Efforts to talk to Police National Headquarters proved futile as they claimed they were yet to gather more details regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, the owner of Club Casaulina Charles Khombeni has threatened to take a legal action against individual police officers in their own capacity following the incident, which has left many people shocked.
Writing on a community policing WhatsApp group, Kanengo Police Officer-In-Charge Tiyese Chiumbuzo Nsungwi has since described the incident as “unfortunate”. He promised that the police will do better next time.
He wrote on Wednesday: “Yesterday (Tuesday) we conducted sweeping operation in Nsungwi and some surrounding areas targeting the criminals terrorizing the area. Officers from PMS joined the operation. Unfortunately, due to poor coordination, some teargas was thrown in residential areas as well as Casaulina Club. We hope to do better next time.”
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