The First Lady of Zambia, Esther Lungu was on Tuesday overwhelmed, and consequently wept bitterly over the spate of gassing of households, which has been reported in five Provinces of the country.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mrs. Lungu was caught crying during the official opening of the first-ever Esther Lungu Foundation Trust (ELFT) economic empowerment workshop held at the Trust’s Secretariat in Lusaka.
Criminal gangs in Zambia had launched a wave of attacks on civilians by using a special gas to make their targets dizzy, eventually immobilising them; and then, attacking them.
Tension gripped Zambia’s capital Lusaka, Thursday, instigated by the spate of gassing of households, which has so far been reported in five Provinces, including Copperbelt, North Western, Central and Southern.
Several hundreds of people have been hospitalised after being gassed by the unknown people in the night.
But, according to investigation, most deaths recorded have been as a result of mob justice, a trend that has seen suspects being burnt alive and cars as well as other properties burnt.
In Lusaka, five people have been killed by angry mobs in just two days, forcing the government to unleash soldiers on to the streets to curb riots.
TNG learnt three people were killed by mobs, Thursday, on suspicion that they were behind the gassing while the other two were killed a day earlier, leaving some police officers seriously wounded from the clashes with protesting mobs.
The development sparked a hoax after a pupil shouted “gas” at Arthur Wina School at Lusaka’s Chalala area, leading to commotion and a stampede as all pupils of the school jostled for safety.
“After receiving the report of alleged gassing at Arthur Wina School between 12 00 hours and 12 30 hours, it has been established that the whole issue came about as a result of a false alarm raised by a pupil in the grade nine class in question who shouted “gas.”
“This brought about commotion and stampede as all the pupils jostled for safety. Therefore, as Zambia Police, we dismiss the report of alleged malicious administering of chemical substance reported at the said school and state that the whole scenario was as result of an alarm which led pupils to panic. It was a hoax,” Zambia Police Spokesperson, Esther Katongo said.
According to Katongo, a mob went on to damage Mumbwa Road Police Post, with various private properties reportedly damaged by the mob.
“In the early hours of yesterday, members of the public in Kanyama attacked and killed an unknown male person on suspicion of being one of the people spraying households with chemical substances.
“They also blocked some roads in the area. Police responded to the report and after picking the body with the view of taking it to UTH, the mob charged and blocked the road and begun throwing all sorts of objects at the officers.
“As a result, they damaged the Police vehicle for Kanyama Police and further went and caused some damage on the newly constructed police station in the area and a Police House. Later, around 10:30 hours, a mob in Kanyama West damaged a Police post and killed one member of the public.
“Another mob went and damaged Mumbwa Road Police Post. Various private properties have been damaged by the mob and are yet to be quantified. The irate members of the public in Chawama’s John Howard descended and killed an unknown male adult who was later burnt and later attacked police officers at the Police Station and seriously injured some officers who were on duty.
“Another disturbance was recorded in Lusaka’s Chaisa area but quick response by police saved the situation from deteriorating. As a result of the confrontation in Chawama and Kanyama, we recorded casualties from both sides,” Katongo said at a media briefing.
She said among the suspects arrested yesterday was a 14-year-old Juvenile of Luangwa compound who allegedly gassed Northmead Primary School.
“We received a report of suspected Malicious Administering of poison with intent to cause harm at Northmead Primary School at 12:00 hours. The police picked up a Juvenile suspect of Luangwa compound aged 14 years who allegedly went to Northmead Primary School and sprayed a substance in Room Five (for Grade Seven) thereby, affecting pupils who were learning and four were affected and were taken to Shimizu Clinic in Garden compound for treatment. The suspect is in police custody and the substance has been taken for laboratory analysis,” Katongo said.
Meanwhile, Zambia has deployed soldiers to suppress the wave of attacks.
“The president has directed the army to be on the streets,” Vice President Inonge Wina told legislators on Friday during parliamentary question time in the capital, Lusaka.
The move to send the military into the streets came after the assaults prompted panicked rioting, the lynching of three suspected attackers on Thursday and a warning from the United States embassy.
The criminal gangs spray a gas that makes their targets dizzy before they attack, according to local media reports.
“We cannot continue to see people being terrorised,” Wina said.
“These are terrorists’ crimes that the state must respond to in a manner that befits terrorists’ crimes. They are meant to make the country ungovernable and we will find the culprits,” she said.
Police have said they are probing “incidences of malicious administering of chemical substance on innocent citizens by criminals”.
The vice president said the attacks, which initially started in the northern Copperbelt region before spreading to Lusaka, were fuelled by fake news being peddled on social media.
“The gassing of innocent Zambians is a very un-Zambian phenomenon and is being fuelled by social media,” she said.
At least six Facebook posts referring to the alleged incidents have been shared hundreds of times and viewed thousands more in the last few days, according to the AFP news agency.
Details in the posts have varied, from claims of vigilante attacks against alleged perpetrators to the use of old images lifted from unrelated online reports.
The attacks have prompted the US embassy in Lusaka to issue a security alert.
“Rumors of ritualistic killings and residential gassings have led to incidents of civil unrest and vigilante justice in multiple provinces throughout the country,” it said in an alert issued on Thursday.
“Reports of rioting and civil disturbances are increasing in some provinces, to include Lusaka,” the US embassy added.
