Police accused of shooting 3 labourers in Warrap
February 24, 2013 (JUBA) – Reports from South Sudan’s Warrap state indicate that three people were wounded on Thursday 21 February at around 11am when police fired on six civilians who were protesting against not being paid for manual labour.
The commissioner of Gogrial West county, Makuc Aru Luac, told Sudan Tribune that the six men had been making bricks for Makuc Makuc Ngongdit, the Secretary General of Warrap state branch office of South Sudan’s ruling party – the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Commissioner Luac said the three wounded men have been taken to Gogrial Hospital. A suspect has been arrested and an investigation is being conducted to establish the root causes of the dispute and who ordered the shooting.
“The cause of shooting was a difference over payment”, Luac told Sudan Tribune on Saturday from from Gogrial town, an administrative headquarters of Gogrial West County.
When people arrived at the brick-making area outside Kuacjok town to collect the bricks, the labourers refused to handover what they had produced until they were paid.
According to the commissioner, Makuc then “decided to send police to bring them to town so that the difference could be settled but they refused. It was during this time […] that the police decided to fire up in attempt to scare them”.
Makuc did not return repeated calls to ask him to comment on the matter. Sudan Tribune was not able to independently verify the allegations but police sources have confirmed that one person has been arrested over the incident.
(ST)