"Eswatini pro-democracy protests continue to mount as government blocks internet, social media"

Eswatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy, shut down the internet for two hours on Friday as pro-democracy marchers headed to the capital. The shutdown came as images of the protests circulated on social and traditional media, including pictures of two people who said they had been injured by gunshots fired by security forces. The internet shutdown blocked social media completely for two hours, and left many services running very slowly afterwards. "It is a pity that we have a government that chooses on suppressing the people's voices, or shut down all communications lines, instead of addressing the demands that are being raised by our people," said Wonder Mkhonza, general secretary of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland.