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Hundreds of riot police using tear gas and water cannon stopped a mass demonstration against President Mugabe yesterday in some of the worst violence in Zimbabwe’s capital for two decades.
The High Court had issued an order sanctioning the march to go ahead.
The demonstration was organised by at least 18 opposition parties and civic organisations and another is planned for next Friday.
Eighteen opposition parties met August 23 to plan the march to demand changes to electoral procedures, including giving them access to the voters’ roll and the establishment of an independent electoral commission that’s no longer controlled by the Justice Ministry.
Police were determined to crush protests.
While the USA embassy said it supported non-violent demonstrations, it did not condemn the violence instigated by opposition elements over the last few months that led to the destruction of property. “We are going next Friday to do exactly the same as we have done today”, Mutasa said, according to Reuters.
The protesters called for the 2018 elections to be supervised by global observers, including the UN.
Canada’s Zimbabwe embassy also said it was increasingly concerned with reports of violence and human rights violations in response to public protest. The Zanu-PF government has been accused multiple times of rigging elections to keep the war veteran in power, including in 2013, when Mugabe beat Tsvangirai with 61 percent of the vote.
The Aug. 26 demonstrations were the latest and largest in several protests that have shut down Zimbabwe’s cities. They demanded Mugabe scrap plans to print “bond notes”, the regime’s version of the USA dollar. The officers then fired tear gas and water cannon when parts of the crowd refused to comply. It is still unclear how many people have been injured so far and sirens of ambulances can be heard throughout Harare’s central business district.
Police would not allow protesters to gather, despite court protection.
The United States says “it is deeply troubled” by the economic policies and financial strains that have prompted numerous protests in the country and has called on the government not to assault the peaceful protesters.
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“You don’t know when it will evolve into what”, said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
