A joint military and police force have been deployed throughout Eswatini, where students have been protesting for weeks calling for political reforms, pro-democracy groups said Monday.
For the last month, primary and high school students in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, previously known as Swaziland, have boycotted classes and staged low-key protests.
They are primarily demanding the release of two legislators imprisoned earlier this year during pro-democracy demonstrations, as well as demanding improved learning conditions and free education.
The army has been deployed “to intimidate, but that has not deterred the students”, Lucky Lukhele, spokesperson for the pro-democracy Swaziland Solidarity Network, told AFP.
“Today, it was reinforced,” he said, alleging that during Monday’s protests, 17 students, including a seven-year-old, were arrested.
According to the Swaziland Communist Party, at least ten protestors have been detained, including one student who was shot in the leg.
Tengetile Khumalo, an army spokesperson, acknowledged the deployment but said that soldiers were “not an enemy of the people.”
This “doesn’t mean there is war but just an assistance to the other forces to maintain order”, she said.
General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress of Eswatini, Mduduzi Gina said “the pupils are calling for political reforms”.
“Having the army… and cops deployed in the schools will worsen the situation in Eswatini,” he warned.
In June, civil society and opposition groups protested in Manzini and Mbabane, looting shops and ransacking properties, including those belonging to King Mswati III.
At least 27 people were killed as police clashed with protesters in some of the country’s worst turmoil in its history.
Monday’s protests attracted about 40 schools.
