Protest shows Zim on tipping point – analyst

ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe has warned that the Arab Spring style of protests would fall flat in Zimbabwe after police fired tear gas and beat up protesters staging the latest of a string of highly charged demonstrations at the weekend.

Dozens of police blocked off the site of the opposition rally for electoral reforms by 2018, when Mugabe, 92, who has ruled the southern African country for decades, will seek re-election.

The protesters responded to the clampdown by throwing stones at the police, while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down a street sign named after Mugabe.

“They are burning tyres in the streets in order to get into power. They are thinking that what happened in the Arab Spring is going to happen in this country, but we tell them that is not going to happen here,” Mugabe said.

“What politics is that when you burn tyres? We want peace in the country.”

He accused foreign powers of having a hand in the unrest.

Armed police were seen firing tear gas and water cannons at protesters gathered on the fringes of the central business district while waiting for the march to start.

Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate’s court while riot police pursued the protesters and threatened journalists.

The usually bustling pavements were clear of street hawkers and some shops were shut as rocks, sticks and burning tyres were strewn across the streets.

Opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls.

Zanu-PF youths hurled stones at the opposition activists but were overpowered and their stalls set on fire.

The march was organised by 18 opposition parties, including the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe People First formed this year by former vice president Joice Mujuru.

Opposition leaders condemned the brutal repression of the protest and vowed to increase pressure on Mugabe’s regime.

Protests “will continue until the day we vote”, said former Mugabe ally and excabinet minister Didymus Mutasa.

Mutasa is now a senior member of Mujuru’s party.

Tsvangirai said the public would not be easily calmed.

“The people’s anger is very deep. The people’s desperation is very deep,” he said.

“Today’s brutal suppression of the people will not stop them from exercising their rights.”

Tsvangirai said the regime was in its “sunset hour”, warning that efforts to suppress the protests would backfire.

Charles Laurie, an analyst with Verisk Maplecroft in London, agreed that the government was on the verge of losing control. “The government is nearing a tipping point in its ability to control a population long used to violence and hardship, and who now have little to lose in putting themselves at risk in forcing political concessions,” he said.

Police broke up the protest despite a court ordering them not to interfere or disrupt the march.

Authorities said 67 people, including a journalist, were arrested.

Several foreign diplomatic missions based in Harare called on the authorities to ensure that basic human rights and freedoms are respected during policing.

The US embassy expressed deep concern over reports of violence during some of the protests and called on government to exhibit restraint.

The Canadian embassy said it was increasingly concerned with reports of violence in response to public protest, while the Australian mission said the use of violence was “not acceptable under any circumstance”.

Friday’s march was to demand free and fair elections. The last elections in 2013 were won by Mugabe in a vote the opposition said was rigged. — AFP