Zimbabweans took to social media on Wednesday to blast authorities over the temporary shutdown of WhatsApp. Users, however, quickly managed to find loopholes by using proxy and VPN services like Tunnelbear and sharing instructions on how to get online. The normally jam-packed sidewalks and streets are nearly empty.
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“Don’t go to work, don’t send children to school, we are making a stand. Let us save our country, we can’t continue to let it burn”, he said.
We have started operations against the Mugabe dictatorship in an attempt to support the people of Zimbabwe and their stay away protests.
HARARE Zimbabwe (Xinhua) – Violent clashes erupted between police and commuter omnibus drivers Monday in the eastern suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, leaving most city-bound residents stranded.
Separately, state hospital doctors and other government workers said they will strike over the government’s failure to pay their June salaries on time.
The protests are in response to Zimbabwe’s utter economic collapse, which has left the nation’s coffers so empty that government employees haven’t been paid salaries this month.
“We stayed home because we feared that if [we] walk to town, we might find it hard walking back or get stranded there given that on Monday it turned violent”, said Silas Nharo, who lives about 30 kilometers southeast of Harare, the nation’s capital. “We hear the daily stories of corruption. There is no third force at all”, said Maunganidze Chaurura, one of the leaders of the protesters. 263Chat has the aim of encouraging dialogue amongst Zimbabwe and gathering and verifying information from across Zimbabwe. Wednesday’s protest was organised via Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.
“What social media has done with #ShutdownZim is to make it possible for news agencies to watch what is happening here in Zimbabwe”.
He further claimed that his party had paved the way for the ongoing unrest after it held “a successful” demonstration throughout the country’s major cities recently.
State telecoms regulator POTRAZ said in a statement it would arrest people sending “subversive” messages that cause unrest. Zimbabwe, once a breadbasket of southern Africa, now depends mainly on imports. They are throwing teargas at onlookers, but is it a crime to peep at police while they pass by?
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told reporters that anti-riot police had deployed in two townships outside Harare and arrested 30 people in connection with the violence.
The organisers and campaigners are advising citizens to keep following the #tajamuka hashtag on social media.
The internet was often unavailable on Wednesday morning but the government has denied blocking it.
He added: “We demand that Mugabe must deliver a time lined transition, reverse the import duty law, implement electoral reforms, implement the new constitution, return back the missing Itai Dzamara, stop police brutality and stop the road blocks, abandon the bond notes, account for the 15 billion and root out corruption”.
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She, however, said the barricades which included stones and burning tyres, were removed.
