Rastafarian community against Jan 17 demos, denies bribe from organizers

There growing calls for the organizers of the January 17 demonstrations to cancel their plans to protect lives of people and property.

The Consumers Association of Malawi is organizing the demonstrations against the rising cost of living and the floatation of the Kwacha.

The street protests are expected to be held in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

A similar event organized by the civil society in July 2011 led to the killing at least 20 people and destruction of property worth millions of Kwacha.

The latest call comes from the Rastafarian community, who argue that the previous experience had shown that protests are not the right channel of solving the problems.

The group claims that the organizers offered them money to be part of the demonstrations.