Police use various methods to disperse riotous crowds, including rubber bullets, water cannons and teargas. Teargas works by irritating the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs, and causes crying, sneezing, coughing, difficulty in breathing, pain in the eyes, temporary blindness, among others. There is some risk of serious permanent injury or death when tear gas is used from being hit by tear gas cartridges, which include severe bruising, loss of eyes, skull fracture, and even death. One day, TIMOTHY KAMBILIMA, not a pirate himself, got caught up in a tear-gas encounter with road traffic police who were trying to disperse protesting pirate taxi drivers. Read on…

FROM the time I was born in the mining town of Chililabombwe, way back in the United National Independence Party (UNIP) government of Kenneth David Kaunda, I had never physically been involved in a teargas situation until recently.

Though this may sound strange to students who normally and quickly resort to demonstrations to press for their demands, especially in colleges and universities, what I am about to share with my fellow readers out there is what happened to me in the Christmas month this past December,17, 2013.

I am a student with one of the universities in Zambia and, on that day, I travelled to Kitwe to go and write my examinations.

The exam itself went on very well and, around 16:30 hours, after I had finished writing, I boarded a Kitwe Main Bus (KMB)-bound bus at Chimwemwe station.

This was the rendezvous I had agreed with colleagues who would be driving to Luanshya that day to give me a lift.

Before we could reach our destination, the driver of the Rosa minibus was warned by several drivers coming from the opposite direction, as they normally do with one another to elude road traffic police, that there was trouble ahead.

“Big man, don’t proceed to KMB, there is a battle between police and taxi drivers,” was his clarion tip off.

Fortunately, the driver was a listening man and he dutifully obliged. He dropped us at a certain point on the route and all the 28 plus passengers, including this writer, headed in different directions.

But, as I was heading towards Chisokone market, I met a group of restless men and women who were sweating profusely while shouting, “The police are coming! The police are coming!”

Alarmed and anxious, I stopped and asked one of the young men what the matter was, and he quickly told me that the police from the traffic section had come to arrest private taxi operators, which had provoked the angst of the drivers and that many members of the public were trying to sympathise with the cab drivers.

Since I had an identity card from my university, I thought it insured me against any surprises and it gave me self-reassurance to proceed, telling myself, “I will just show them my identity card should they attempt to harass me.”

Armed with that, I kept on walking towards Chisokone market. How naïve that was! No sooner had I reached the market, than two police vehicles arrived at the scene and I saw some smoke rising into the sky.

I was reliably informed, though, that the pirate drivers, supported by their sympathisers, had burnt some tyres in protest against the police raid and I quickly concluded that this was the source of the smoke. Not quite so!

“We won’t be scared by your tear gas,” shouted a large group of youths, as more smoke filled the air. Presently, my eyes and nostrils began itching and that was when it dawned on me that, I had been a victim of the teargas cannisters that had been fired by the police.

“Ba Uncle, fwayeni amenshi musambe pamenso,” shouted a sympathetic, but unidentifiable fast-speaking young woman. Fortunately, I remembered that I had a bottle of mineral water in my bag which came in handy to my rescue. I quickly washed my face and immediately left the place. I went to a place near the police station next to KMB station from where I called my colleagues to inform them of what had just happened to me.

We soon hit the road on our trip back home to the home of 1962 Football Association of Zambia premier division Kings Roan United, Luanshya from the home of 12- time FAZ premier division champions, Nkana FC, Kitwe.

I was quiet throughout the journey back home, and, not wanting to alarm my wife, kept what had happened to me a closely guarded secret until when I arrived home.

I narrated what I went through for the first time since I was born. The experience was quite traumatising and it is my prayer that I will never be caught up in such a situation again.

I wish all the readers and Times of Zambia staff a prosperous 2014.

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