The police used tear gas canisters against protesters, who threw stones, burned tires and blocked the streets in the city.
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The government’s Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo also accused opposition leaders of trying to provoke an worldwide intervention in Zimbabwe.
Last week, similar tactics were deployed when demonstrators took to the streets to voice their concerns about the introduction of new bank notes in Zimbabwe, planned for the autumn. “The skirmishes have been started by the police but they should know we will not be stopped by that… until Mugabe resigns”.
“It was fantastic to see and so humbling to see Zimbabweans come to a place where they were bold enough to say to a government that is known to be harsh, “Enough is enough and we won’t let you treat citizens the way that you are treating them.’ That added to the momentum of the citizens” movement that we now have on our hands”.
We are going next Friday to do the same – request another opportunity to demonstrate here in Harare and if thwarted, our demonstration capacity will be on standby.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, added: “What begins is fear, then panic and lastly anger”.
Judge Hlekani Mwayera of the High Court of Zimbabwe had authorized the march, which called for electoral reforms. “I am glad that Zimbabweans now refuse to be cowed”, Tsvangirai said. “This is not a wedding, it is a fight”, he said.
Another anti-government demonstration will be held next Friday, said the coalition of at least 18 opposition parties and civic organizations that organized Friday’s protest. He said up to 150 000 people could attend.
“Now that it is the government and the police who have obstructed a sanctioned march in violation of a court order, it stands to reason that this government is working very hard to provoke the law-abiding citizens of this country”, he said.
Zimbabwean police on Friday fired tear gas and a water cannon to disperse anti-government supporters, who responded by hurling rocks, as a protest against President Robert Mugabe turned violent, a Reuters witness said.
They are angry at a faltering economy, cash shortages and high unemployment – and it was one of the worst outbreaks of violence since food riots in 1998.
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Mugabe, 92, has been the head of state in Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980. Zanu-PF retained power after elections in 2013, which were tainted by allegations of vote-rigging.
