Police in Zambia on Tuesday stormed and raided the home of the country’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema.
Hichilema was also detained and questioned by police. A spokesman for him, Clayson Hamasaka in a statement said that his boss “is now at Woodlands police station awaiting processes there. They are questioning him now.”
Hichilema’s lawyer Jack Mwiimbu also told Reuters that “We have no idea what they want … we are on our way to Lilayi. This is something strange. It has never happened before. He is not well because of the tear gas. His wife fainted three times last night because of the tear gas.”
According to local media reports police broke into Hichilema’s home breaking his doors and firing tear gas into the mansion and picking him up.
Local media also reported that the arrest and detention could be linked to an incident that occurred on Sunday in which a presidential spokesman Amos Chanda accused the opposition leader of obstructing President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade.
UPDATE ON POLICE RAID: President Hakainde Hichilema is now at Woodlands Police Station, awaiting the processes there.
— UPND (@UPNDZM) April 11, 2017
BREAKING: ‘The president wants to kill me’, says Zambian opposition leader, speaking from safe room https://t.co/NlRNmkqhWl By @simonallison pic.twitter.com/w69dL3PAAe
— Daily Maverick (@dailymaverick) April 11, 2017
Source: Africafeeds.com
