Thousands march against Swaziland king: activists

By Ed Cropley

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Thousands of people marched on Thursday against the appointed government in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, a day after clashes with riot police in which several protesters were arrested and beaten, an activist and local media said.

As a week of protests against King Mswati III came to a head, Sikelela Dlamini, coordinator of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, said more than 3,000 people were marching in provincial town of Siteki.

A further 5,000 were in a standoff with police at a bus station in Manzini, the landlocked southern African nation's main city, he added. There were no reports of violence.

However, on Wednesday police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse crowds demanding an end to a political system that allows the king to run the country of 1.4 million people as a personal fiefdom.

"Some people were beaten to a pulp," Dlamini told Reuters in neighouring South Africa, adding that several campaigners were arrested.

The Times of Swaziland quoted a police spokeswoman as saying one officer was hurt in a "skirmish" with demonstrators in Siteki.

More trouble is possible on Friday when activists inspired by uprisings against autocratic rulers in north Africa deliver a petition to the government in the capital, Mbabane.

As well as anger at the UK-educated Mswati, who was described in a U.S. diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks as "not intellectually well-developed", the protests are being driven by the parlous state of the Swazi economy.