Swaziland has kicked foreigners who went there to participate in a pro-democracy protest, the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) said.

“We were deported on the basis that we entered the country illegally and we want to disrupt peace,” said Numsa deputy president Christine Olivier.

They were rounded up on Tuesday while meeting to be briefed on a march.

Olivier said Swazi police asked Swazi union leaders to identify the foreigners at the meeting and when they refused, loaded everyone into police vans and took them to a police station in Mbabane.

“We were made to write statements that we were not arrested, but being questioned for being illegally in the country,” she said.

“We were humiliated and if they felt that your statement is not the one they wanted, they made you to rewrite it.”

She said a delegation of 33 members of Numsa and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union went to Swaziland for the democracy campaign.

“Two of our members were assaulted on Tuesday evening, while being taken to the border,” said Olivier.

“We were handled in an inappropriate manner. For once, we experienced the brutality of the Swazi police,” she said.