THE Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) called for the establishment of people’s defence militia today after the country’s armed forces stormed a college campus and attacked striking students.

It said the attack, which left many requiring hospital treatment, was part of the regime’s “desperate attempt to cling to power.”

Soldiers entered the grounds of William Pitcher College in Manzini on Sunday, firing tea rgas into students’ rooms and launching violent assaults that left many with broken limbs.

At least three members of the Swaziland National Union of Students were targeted during the raid; two had their arms broken in the attack and one was left with a deep head wound. 

CPS members provided first aid on the scene and arranged for the injured to be taken to hospital.

With the college remaining under military control, injured students have been unable to sit exams, and many have been forced to flee the campus.

“This is yet another episode which proves that the ruling regime in Swaziland will go to extreme lengths to quell any type of dissent.

“The regime continues to target the youth and students in its bid to cling to power,” a CPS statement said.

There is growing unrest in Swaziland, which started in June with democracy marches and rallies in major towns and cities. 

Largely youth-led, the protests called for an end to the ban on political parties that has been in place since 1973 and for serious democratic reforms in the country, which is Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

But government forces responded with a brutal crackdown, with the military deployed under shoot-to-kill orders, targeting youth, students and peaceful protesters, killing at least 70.

The CPS said the establishment of community councils throughout the country was now a necessity as part of the movement for democratic reform.

“Among the tasks of the councils must be defence of the masses against the regime’s killing machine,” it said, reiterating an earlier call for an armed people’s militia.

Close to 70 per cent of Swaziland’s citizens live below the poverty line, with more than a third of the population considered in extreme poverty and reliant on the World Food Programme.

By contrast, King Mswati III, who was secretly funded and supported by the government of apartheid-era South Africa, draws an annual salary of about £36.5 million paid out of government coffers and has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle.