GITEGA, August 30th (ABP) – On information from the administration, the Bugendana communal police station arrested a number of people praying in a house on 24 August 2024 at around 2pm on the Kivuvu village in the Mugera zone in Bugendana commune in Gitega province. The people arrested were members of a church called Yahwe. The Mutoyi police quickly intervened. OPJ 1st Sergeant Irakoze Eulade, who made the report, said that when the police arrived, the worshippers demonstrated, but thanks to police tactics, they apprehended the leaders and took them to the Mutoyi police station.
According to OPJ Irakoze, those worshippers went on strike very close to the police station, singing some of their church’s hymns, but the situation was quickly brought under control in collaboration with the joint security committee, which helped them to drive the worshippers away by force. Note that during the identification of those leaders, the police noticed that there were even people who had come from the neighboring province of Ngozi.
The eight people arrested, including 6 boys and 2 women, are being held in solitary confinement for questioning.