LILONGWE, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Malawi police have arrested 68 people in connection to the breaking, looting and burning of public offices and individual property during protests against the country's electoral body chief Thursday and Friday.
The nationwide protests, which were organized by the (Malawi) Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) and graced by the opposition, were meant to be peaceful but the situation went out of hand at some point.
Public offices were reported to have been looted and burnt in Mzuzu city, Karonga and Rumphi districts up north, while in the capital, Lilongwe, Zomba and Blantyre, down south, shops were reported to have been broken into and looted.
The protesters in Mzuzu also burned down the house and two vehicles of former minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Grace Chiumia, who is President Peter Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member.
But in a statement released Sunday, Malawi Police Service (MPS) spokesperson, James Kadadzera, disclosed that the police had arrested 68 people in relation to the Thursday and Friday violence across the country.
"The MPS strongly condemns the criminal acts and looting that resurfaced during the demonstrations in Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba, Mzuzu, Rumphi, and Karonga on Thursday," wrote the police spokes person.
He added: "So far we have arrested 68 suspects strongly connected to the looting and injuring of police officers [and] the perpetrators will be answerable in Court as individuals."
According to Kadadzera, 39 people have been arrested in Lilongwe, 18 in Mzuzu and 11 in Rumphi up north.
The police have also recovered 55 out of 231 bicycles and a few computers that were stolen from Mzuzu Agriculture offices.
"The law enforcers are vigilant and alert in making sure that everything is under control, day and night," said the police spokesperson in the statement, adding: "We have put in place strategies and modalities so that citizens can normally access services at hospitals, schools, shops, and markets."
Kadadzera has also warned Malawians to desist from creating and spreading scary messages and audios on social media propagating hatred and violence saying people behind this would be traced, arrested and brought before court to answer charges.
The HRDC and opposition parties in Malawi have been taking to the streets to force the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Chairperson, Jane Ansah, to resign for allegedly mismanaging the country's elections held on May 21.
The incumbent, Mutharika, emerged winner in the presidential race, according to MEC results which the opposition leaders, Lazarus Chakwera for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Saulos Chilima for the United Transformation Movement (UTM) are contesting in court.
The two are petitioning the country's constitutional court to nullify the presidential results and that there should be a rerun of the poll claiming that the May 21 election was rigged.
