Friday, February 7, 2025

Police deny BNF permit to demonstrate against extra-judicial killings

The Secretary General of the Botswana National Front, Mohammed Khan, says his organization is “very disappointed” by a decision by the Botswana Police Service not to issue them with a permit to stage a peaceful demonstration to protest the growing number of extra judicial killings by security agents.
Khan says although issuing such permits is the responsibility of the Police, the BNF has a reason to suspect political interference.

He says it’s likely that the police received orders from the top not to give out such a permit to an opposition party.

The long planned BNF demonstration was supposed to start from Ledumang across the city and culminate with what Khan calls a “star rally” in Gaborone West.
“We applied a long time back. We are disappointed that we were only told on Friday that we would not be getting the permit,” Khan told the Sunday Standard.
He said all along the Police kept them on hold, creating an impression that the BNF would in the end get the permit.
“This has led us to suspect the order came from above,” said Khan.
He, however, said the rally in Gaborone West has been allowed to go ahead, and the party has decided to use it to dedicate it to murder victims of security agencies.

The Head of Botswana Public Relations, Chris Mbulawa, said he did not have the facts surrounding the matter.

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