AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Protest march authorized by the Supreme Court violently repressed; Police accused

Tuesday, 30 August 2016 politics  

Harare (Agenzia Fides) - The violent repression of opposition demonstrations by Zimbabwean police has been criticized by several humanitarian organizations. On Friday, August 26 a protest demonstration organized by 18 opposition parties was held that had been authorized at the last moment by the Supreme Court. The police had started to attack the protesters who were demonstrating peacefully waiting for the Court's authorization (see Fides 26/08/2016).
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers Association for Human Rights (ZLHR), despite the approval of the Court, the police and military, attacked the demonstrators with tear gas and batons. Among those affected there were also women, including a pregnant woman, who according to ZLHR was arrested and no one knows the place of detention, and an elderly lady, surrounded and brutally threatened by 8 policemen in riot gear.
Police arrested about seventy people, blamed for causing accidents. Among them is Promise Mkwananzi, leader of #Tajamuka movement, one of the protest movements that use social media (see Fides 05/08/2016) to spread their ideas and launch protest actions against 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who despite his age, intends to run for the 2018 elections. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 30/08/2016)


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