Kigali, Rwanda - The Police have rounded up street preachers around Kigali city, The Sunday Times has learnt. According to a reliable source, the police personnel mounted the operations in three districts of Kigali city, Nyarugenge and Gasabo in which numerous preachers were arrested and detained. "Some of the roadside evangelists were arrested in the heart of the city," said the source, adding that others were picked from different streets in neighbouring areas where they were scattered conducting their normal business of spreading the gospel.
In some areas, emerging reports indicate that the operations targeting street preachers started as early as February 23. The impeccable source revealed that some of the victims were being detained at Muhima prison, while one identified as Jules Mbabazi has been forwarded to court.
The Police Spokesperson Willy Marcel Higiro confirmed the reports to The Sunday Times on Friday.
But, the force's publicist was quick to add that the operation yielded "one culprit."
"The arrested street preacher had, on several occasions, defied pleas from police to stop preaching on the streets," he said by telephone. He said that the preachers' act was causing insecurity in the busy city centre.
When the accused starts his business, Inspector Higiro said, people gradually flock the scene causing commotion. He explained that the police could not tolerate such "acts that make the city vulnerable to insecurity and idleness."
In fact, according to the inside source, the orders to arrest these street evangelists were issued by Ntacyo Burahinda, the Intelligence Officer of Nyarugenge district.
Although the police have fronted the reason of insubordination as being part of the causes of the operation, the preachers have flatly denied this allegation.
"I have never defied police. All those are lies peddled against us with intentions to stop the spread of the word of God," one of the victims told The Sunday Times on condition of anonymity.
However, the source further disclosed that they were being witch-hunted by some individual officers in the police force.
Burahinda was named among the string of officers making an organised conspiracy against them, an allegation he has dismissed as baseless.
Protests
Meanwhile, the arrest and detention of street preachers around Kigali city has attracted bitter reactions from the public. Church leaders have angrily responded to the move describing it as an attack on the freedom of worship especially for the Christian fellowship.
"This is nothing other than an assault mounted on Christians," said one pastor on condition of anonymity.
The head of one of the Pentecostal churches around the city observed that if more pressure and intimidation is mounted on their missionaries, it would mark the genesis of protests.
"It is unfair for our fellow preachers to be detained for spreading the gospel," the pastor said, dismissing the charges against them as being not only weak but also concocted.
"To say that the street preachers are destabilising the city is totally untrue because we believe in peace and we preach peace," he said.