Panga welding thugs have disrupted protests in Lilongwe, organised by the Citizens for Credible Elections (CfCE).

The demonstrations aimed at forcing chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) justice Anabel Mtalimanja and the commission's Chief Elections Officer Andrew Mpesi accusing them of being too compromised to conduct the 16 September, General Elections.

Led by the group's coordinator, Sylvester Namiwa, the concerned people gathered at the Lilongwe Community centre ground, and before they were addressed on the route to take, the thugs attacked and dismissed them in full view of the police and MDF soldiers.

When police tried to quell the situation, they were overpowered by another group of the masked thugs who were deployed in three separate vehicles.

They fired teargas, dispersing everyone on the scene while running for the dear lives as the life threatening smoke hovered all over the place.

An attempt to bring order proved futile as the thugs resorted to damaging two vehicles belonging to the demonstrators.

At first they took away a Public Address System and later set ablaze all the vehicles and took control of the place for a while.

Apart from the demonstrators, some law enforcers and journalists have been whipped and manhandled by the thugs.

On Tuesday after a stakeholder's meeting, the Lilongwe District Commissioner Lawford Palani gave the grouting a go ahead to conduct the demonstrations in the city with a condition that they change their earlier route and present their petition to his office and not MEC headquarters.