Gassed twice in one day: police strike Mundubile’s convoy as shooting claim spreads

Tear gas twice in one afternoon: police strike Mundubile’s convoy in Lusaka as opposition cries foul over incumbent’s free run Police fired tear gas directly into a crowd of opposition supporters in Lusaka’s Kalingalinga on Thursday, driving presidential candidate Brian Mundubile…

Tear gas twice in one afternoon: police strike Mundubile’s convoy in Lusaka as opposition cries foul over incumbent’s free run

Police fired tear gas directly into a crowd of opposition supporters in Lusaka’s Kalingalinga on Thursday, driving presidential candidate Brian Mundubile and running mate Makebi Zulu out of their vehicles and onto the street in the middle of a sanctioned campaign roadshow. Hours later, a second NRPUP convoy carrying the same ticket was stopped cold in Kabwata Constituency, with officers offering no clear explanation for the halt. Two townships, two confrontations, one presidential candidate, and by the time of publication, zero accountability from police.

Mundubile did not soften the accusation. “Police fired tear gas at our members and innocent citizens in an attempt to stop our campaign,” he said, insisting the roadshow was peaceful, lawful, and running exactly on the schedule the Electoral Commission of Zambia had approved. “We condemn this intimidation and we will not be silenced from exercising our democracy,” he added, vowing the campaign would continue undeterred.

Footage since spreading nationwide shows Mundubile and Zulu choking on gas, abandoning their vehicles, and walking through Kalingalinga on foot as supporters swarmed around them chanting “we want change.” The two men eventually climbed onto a van and pushed the roadshow through more of the township rather than call it off, turning a police disruption into a larger show of public defiance.

Amid the chaos, Hot FM and TV Yatu both reported that a young girl was shot during the confrontation, allegedly by police officers on the scene. Neither outlet has independently confirmed the claim, and no hospital, police statement or family account has yet verified it. This newsroom has not confirmed it either. But the allegation is now circulating nationally, at a moment when police had already fired tear gas twice on the same ticket in one afternoon, and it demands an answer from the Zambia Police Service rather than silence.

Then came Kabwata. A second NRPUP convoy, carrying Mundubile and Zulu, was blocked by officers citing vague “public order concerns.” No further explanation was offered before the convoy was eventually allowed to move on. By Thursday evening, neither the Zambia Police Service nor the NRPUP had issued a joint account explaining what triggered either standoff, or the shooting allegation now spreading across the country.

The timing sharpens every question being asked. Both incidents fell on the first day of a five-day national mourning period declared for the late former Vice President, Dr Guy Lindsay Scott, running from 16 to 20 July 2026. While Mundubile’s convoy was being gassed in Lusaka, President Hakainde Hichilema was reportedly campaigning without interruption in Kaputa, Northern Province, the same afternoon — a contrast opposition figures are now placing at the heart of the day’s events.

Andyford Mayele Banda, president of the People’s Alliance for Change, did not hedge. “We strongly condemn the police’s disruption of President Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu’s peaceful roadshow,” he said. “The will of the people must take centre stage, not politicians.” He warned that halting one campaign’s momentum while another runs unimpeded disadvantages the front-runner and undermines the fairness the ruling party claims to protect, and he called on supporters to turn out in force for a rally planned in Matero.

None of it has stopped Mundubile and Zulu. Friday brings more roadshows, then the Matero rally in the afternoon, then the next stretch of a campaign that has now been gassed twice in a single day and shows no sign of standing down. With the vote weeks away, Thursday stands as the most serious collision yet between an opposition campaign and the police force meant to protect it, and the unanswered shooting allegation means the country is now waiting for the truth, not a denial.