The situation was calm by Wednesday evening, with motorists navigating around stones and other debris in city streets and shattered shop windows were evidence of looting.
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Truck-loads of security personnel were deployed to secure the scene, near the national parliament.
Combo, who doubles as Zanu PF administrator, also defended the police’s heavy-handedness in crushing dissent in the past few weeks, saying “in actual fact, they are being too lenient”.
Tsvangirai said the public would not be easily calmed. However, pictures seen by Bulawayo24.com this morning show riot police tanks arriving at the assembly venue. We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 12th of August 2016. “The crowd can not be accommodated in the central business district as it interrupts with the human and vehicular traffic”.
“We encourage the government of Zimbabwe to ensure the democratic freedoms of all Zimbabweans are fully protected”, reads part of the statement issued by the Australian embassy. “Thank you in advance for your co-operation”.
The leaders behind Friday’s demonstration have vowed to continue taking to the streets.
More than a hundred officers, backed by armoured trucks, moved to block a march on Friday – organised by a coalition of opposition groups in Harare, the capital – in the latest round of the most intense unrest in the former British colony for nearly a decade.
“The demonstration is going ahead (although) we know the police have already teargassed the venue”.
Addressing the same press conference, MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai said, “when police react in such a manner, people are being trapped and we are not accountable for the skirmishes taking place”.
Some 150,000 protesters were expected to attend the march, Reuters reported, which is planned to finish outside the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The last elections in 2013 were won by Mugabe in a vote the opposition said was rigged.
“We are calling on Zimbabweans to come out in their numbers tomorrow in support of this legitimate cause of demanding a truly free and fair election”.
Mugabe has recently turned toward the Zanu-PF youth league for political support, with two rallies attended by tens of thousands of people.
“The skirmishes were started by the police and not us”. People’s anger and desperation are real.
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President Robert Mugabe has come under vast pressure with church-based organisations calling on Parliament to move a motion to impeach him if he fails to resolve the economic crisis immediately.
