"I confirm that two people were killed in the fracas," police spokesman Willie Mwaluka said.
He said police arrested a man for being drunk in public on Sunday and he had committed suicide in detention on Monday by "apparently hanging himself using pieces of his clothing".
But an opposition official said that the police had arrested the man for chanting anti-government slogans and proclaiming that Gwanda Chakuamba, presidential candidate for the Mgwirizano, or Unity, Coalition, would be elected president in the May 18 elections.
"He was tortured by police until he died," Silas Kanjere, of the Republican opposition party, said.
After hearing of his death, youths threw stones at the police station and looted houses, shops and a department store in the small town of Nsanje in southern Malawi, Mwaluka said.
Kanjere said the youths attacked the police station to protest against the death of their fellow opposition supporter and that the police "opened fire using live bullets to disperse the crowd and killed our men".
Political tensions were high in the district, which borders Mozambique, Kanjere added.
Riot police often use live bullets to disperse demonstrators. - Sapa-AFP
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