BLANTYRE, Malawi, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Post-election protesters and Malawi ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters clashed on Wednesday morning, leaving many injured.
The two sides clashed when the protesters passed by Trade Fair Grounds in the city where Agriculture Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa was opening the country's Agriculture Fair.
Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the protesters were on their way to a hotel where the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was hosting an annual conference of the electoral commissions in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.
The protesters, led by the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), were going to present a petition to the SADC Conference to demand that the Malawi Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jane Ansah, should step down.
"The DPP supporters blocked the road and the two sides started pelting stones to each other before the police intervened with teargas to disperse them," explained an eyewitness, who requested anonymity.
"A dozen of people have been seriously injured including renowned human rights activist, Billy Mayaya who has been severely hacked on the head and he was rushed to hospital," added the eyewitness.
The HRDC and the opposition in Malawi have been holding demonstrations to force the MEC chairperson to resign for allegedly mismanaging the May 21 presidential election that saw president Peter Mutharika win.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties are contesting the May 21 presidential results in court and they are pushing for nullification of the results and that a rerun of the elections should be conducted.
President Mutharika recently told BBC that he could not fire Ansah on the given grounds and Ansah, too, told the local media that she would not resign "because the matter is in court."
