POLICE BLOCK DR.PULE, CHANDA, KALABA FROM ATTENDING CHURCH SERVICE IN KITWE AND CHINGOLA
…as they also seal off a church in Kabushi, Ndola, where ECL was supposed to attend church service.
KITWE, SUNDAY, JUNE, 16, 2024 [SMART EAGLES]
Police on the Copperbelt have blocked United Kwacha Alliance leaders from attending church services in various towns at the instructions of top command, Christian Democratic Party President Dr. Danny Pule has confirmed.
Dr. Pule and New Congress Party President Pastor Peter Chanda were scheduled to worship at Christ the King Church in Kitwe but were turned away by the police.
” …when going to church we found a heavily manned roadblock and when we reached there they got the drivers license from my driver and then came around and asked us where are you going and we told them we are going to church. We gave them the name of the church and after sometime of being kept by the police they let us go,” Dr. Pule said.
Upon arriving at the church the two leaders where met by a heavily armed paramilitary police presence that were mobilized.
” When we arrived at the church we found heavy presence of the police, when I went into church, I found Pastor Duncan Simumchimba was already told that we shouldn’t worship there and he was trying to reason with them that we are not not going to speak there but going to worship the lord,”
“When I went outside the church I found that the number of police officers kept increasing more than 50 armed paramilitary police officers, one officer from Wusakile police station who identified himself as Officer in Charge Mtonga was sympathetic to our situation but said he was working under instructions from the commanding officer who must have been also under instructions from top command and said we were not allowed to pray there today,” Dr. Pule said.
The police later drove the two leaders out of Kitwe and escorted them upto Zamtan checkpoint in Ndola and upon arrival in Ndola another battalion of police officers told them to get out of the city immediately.
” They even denied us a chance to buy some food and drinks at the nearest shopping mall in Ndola and told us to get out of the city immediately. Later I spoke to Citizens First President Harry Kalaba who also told me that the police had also blocked him from entering Chingola to attend church service. They also sealed off a church in Kabushi where ECL was also scheduled to attended church service, ” Dr. Pule said.
And New Congress party President Peter Chanda said the country has now degenerated into a police State where people are not allowed to worship freely.