About 300 people, most of them albinos, have braved steady rains this week, sometimes bringing traffic to a standstill to protest near the residence of Malawi’s President, Peter Mutharika.
The demonstrators want a face-to-face meeting with the president to discuss the continued killings of albinos in the southern African country.
Most of them wore black attire and sang songs usually heard during funeral services. They also carried banners and placards with messages like “No More Sleeping on Albino Attacks,” and “Same Blood, Different Colors.”
An official with the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi, Ian Simbota, which organized the protest, laid out the protesters goals.
He said some albino children have stopped going to school for fear of attacks.
The protesters tried to march on Mutharika’s residence but were turned back when police mounted a human wall about 200 meters from the front gate. Authorities said they could not allow a protest at State House because it is a protected area.
