Havoc in Harare
POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS JUST AFTER COURT RULES DEMONSTRATION IS LEGAL
Multiparty protest against electoral commission for ‘bias’ in favour of Zanu-PF.
Zimbabwe police fired tear gas into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators in Harare yesterday, 20 minutes after the Harare High Court had declared the demonstration was legal.
The court ordered the police to allow members of a coalition of opposition parties to march from Freedom Square in the city centre along a specified route to present a petition to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) at its offices between noon and 4pm.
“We can proceed now. From 12 onwards we can gather for the demonstration at the ZEC.
This is not a wedding, it’s a fight,” said Douglas Mwonzora, spokesperson for the main political opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, outside the court after the judgment. But police ignored the court order and fired tear gas at the crowd, dispersing the demonstration before it got going. About 200 demonstrators later returned. The streets near the square were littered with rocks and small burning objects. Before they were dispersed, a small group of opposition supporters sang liberation war songs, including Hondo (war), Mugabe must go.
About 200 riot police, some armed with AK47s, swarmed over the field between Rainbow Towers Hotel and the Harare showgrounds from 9am.
This was the first multi-party demonstration in Zimbabwe and it included many former members of Zanu-PF, now in Zimbabwe People First, which was established by ex-vice president Joice Mujuru after President Robert Mugabe fired her for campaigning to succeed him.
But there was no sign of Mujuru or MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the start of the demonstration targeting the ZEC which opposition politicians accuse of bias towards Zanu-PF.