Today, 3rd of October, marks 8 years to the day since the normally peaceful capital of Seychelles, Victoria witnessed a rare eclipse of unrest over the rights to operate private radio.
A group of the opposition supporters had gathered at the National Cultural Centre, which then housed the National Assembly to sign a petition calling on President James Michel not to sign into law the Amendment of the Broadcasting and Telecommunication Bill 2006.
The amendments seek to prohibit all political parties; religious organisations or person(s) affiliated to a political group to own a license to operate a private radio station.
The protesters accused the ruling party of robbing their constitutional right of freedom of expression.
The police responded by using brutal force against the Seychelles National Party (SNP) leaders, party members and members of the public who were engaged in a simple political activity such as gathering to sign a petition.
A public inquiry into the incident which started in 2007 and headed the Irish retired Judge Michael Reilly found that the Special Support Unit (SSU) used excessive and unjustified use of force in dealing with the crowd.
In November 2009 the Supreme Court awarded damages to victims of the 3rd October incident.
