Fire broke out at a police station on Friday night at a village in Kajo-Keji County of Central Equatoria State, south of the capital Juba.
County Spokesman Beden Elikana said the station was set ablaze when police officers went out to patrol the town. He told Eye Radio 98.6 FM in Juba that ‘unknown people’ set fire to the station as well as 11 motorbikes, 3 bicycles, and files within the station.
But the Catholic Radio Network reported the station was burnt down by an ‘angry gang,’ citing a local journalist as saying that over 250 youths blocked Wudu-Löikor road at midnight, then deliberately destroyed equipment and papers at the police station.
Earlier on Friday, the same radio reported that residents of Kajo-Keji County were ‘unhappy’ with an ongoing army recruitment drive, according to a local official. Recruitment in the county was being spearheaded by mobilization delegate Brigadier-General Abraham Wani.
According to the county spokesman, one police officer ‘got stoned’ while trying to rescue property from the burning police station. “The situation is still very tense here and many people are still coming and the police is still tracing those who made the crimes and up to now they have not been apprehended,” the official told Eye Radio.
“Actually people are very miserable because of the situation. They are not to happy what has happened because this is a very terrible situation if the police station can be burnt like this,” he said.
County Commissioner Henry Kala Saboni, for his part, said in an interview on Saturday that the arsonists were “an angry gang of disco dancers” who were protesting a local order banning disco dances on weekdays.
Map: Kajo Keji district (red) within Central Equatoria State (light red) (Wikipedia)