Police get tough on protesters after court ban
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s police used tear gas, arrests and beatings Friday to quell antigovernment protests in the capital, Harare.
Seven people were injured, including one in critical condition, and 80 people were arrested, said Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party that organized the demonstrations.
“There is not going to be any rest until we achieve a people’s government … we will continue to mobilize,” said Chamisa at a news conference, following a day of clashes between police and opposition demonstrators.
Human rights groups criticized the police, saying they used excessive force against the protesters. The police, however, denied that they committed abuses.
“We are not impinging on people’s rights,” police spokesman Paul Nyathi said on the state television. “People should engage in lawful activities and they should not be at places where they are not supposed to be.”
The violence happened when a few hundred protesters gathered in Africa Unity Square in central Harare, despite a police ban on the demonstration that was upheld by Zimbabwe’s High Court.
Police fired tear gas which engulfed the square to disperse the protesters, who ran into nearby streets. Police used batons to beat several people.
Groups of young men moved around the downtown area, shouting antigovernment slogans and singing protest songs.
“Don’t weep for me if I die. I chose to die for Zimbabwe,” sang some protesters, in the Shona language, before running away from clouds of tear gas.
The clashes came after Zimbabwe’s High Court upheld the police ban on the opposition protest. The court early Friday rejected the appeal from the opposition party to declare the planned protest to be legal.
The opposition party had planned what it said would be a peaceful protest to press President Emmerson Mnangagwa to set up a transitional authority to address economic problems and organize credible elections. The protests will spread to other cities next week, the opposition said.