Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy said Saturday it had shut schools “indefinitely with immediate effect” as the country faces a wave of pro-democracy protests.
Pupils and students of the small landlocked country that was previously knowns as Swaziland have been protesting for a number of weeks now.
These went ahead to boycott lessons as they called for free education as well as an end to the regime of King Mswati III.
“His Majesty’s Government has taken the decision to close schools indefinitely with immediate effect,” the prime minister Cleopas Dlamini said in a statement.
According to pro-democracy activists, the police and army have been deployed in schools this week and several students have been arrested.
Civil society and Opposition groups demonstrated in the largest cities of Manzini and Mbabane in June looting shops and ransacking business properties.
At least 28 people died as Police clashed with protectors in some of the worst unrest in the southern African country’s history. The latest fatality came on Wednesday.
On Friday,Eswatini shut down the internet for two hours as pro-democracy marches headed to the capital.
The shutdown came as images of the protests circulated on social media and traditional media including pictures of two people who said they had been injured by gunshots fired by security forces.