World

Zimbabwe police fire tear gas, beat protesters upset over economic woes

Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said his Movement for Democratic Change party backed down from a planned anti-government protest on Friday to avoid bloodshed and would change tactics in confronting what it called a "fascist" government.

Anger mounts due to inflation, shortage of cash, dwindling electricity and water supply

Bystanders assist a woman injured in Harare on Friday during clashes after police banned planned protests over austerity and rising living costs called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. (Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters)

Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said his Movement for Democratic Change party backed down from a planned protest on Friday to avoid bloodshed and would change tactics in confronting what it called a "fascist" government.

Police combed Harare's streets rounding up suspected MDC supporters, after using batons and a water cannon to break up the anti-government protest that authorities had declared illegal.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC leader who disputes President Emmerson Mnangagwa's election win last year and accuses him of being as repressive as predecessor Robert Mugabe, said his party had followed the law but authorities responded in bad faith.

"Today we didn't want to risk people's lives by continuing to be confrontational because if we had chosen to be confrontational, there will be blood in the streets," Chamisa told reporters in Harare.

"We will continue to mobilize, but what you are going to see is a mutation of our strategy because when you are facing a confrontational regime, you must also use tactics that are going to be above them," he said, without elaborating.

A police officer kicks at a man during a protest. The MDC said about 80 people had been arrested. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Reuters)

Friday's street demonstration was to have been the first in a nationwide series of protests organized by the MDC, which accuses Mnangagwa's government of state-sponsored violence, corruption and economic mismanagement.

Chamisa said more than 80 people had been arrested.

A police spokesperson said he would give an update later.

A demonstration ban — announced late on Thursday by police who said any demonstrators would be committing a crime — had exposed the government's true colours, party vice-president Tendai Biti told reporters outside the court.

"The constitution guarantees the right to demonstration ... yet this fascist regime has denied and proscribed this right to the people of Zimbabwe," he said on Friday.

"We have jumped from the frying pan into the fire after the coup of November 2017... We don't accept the conduct of this regime, the conduct of Mr Mnangagwa."

More than 100 MDC supporters defied that before being chased by baton-wielding officers from a city square.

Police patrolled the usually bustling city centre in lorries and on foot, witnesses said, firing tear gas to disperse any groups that attempted to gather as most shops and business shut.

Police also directed tear gas at journalists.

UN condemns violent response

In Geneva, a spokesperson for the UN human rights commissioner urged the government to engage with citizens on legitimate economic grievances and "stop cracking down on peaceful protesters."

The series of demonstrations has been widely viewed as a test of how Mnangagwa, who this year so far has failed to make good on promises of political and economic reform, responds to dissent in a country tainted by a long history of repression.

With tear gas visible, riot police patrol the streets during protests in the capital of Harare on Friday. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press)

Elected after the armed forces intervened to oust Robert Mugabe, Mnangagwa has said he aims to break with the long legacy of repression that characterized much of his predecessor's 37 years in power.

But the economy is mired in its worst crisis in a decade, and Mnangagwa is struggling to convince the growing ranks of poor citizens that his government's austerity measures and reforms can trigger a recovery.

Zimbabweans had also expected last year's vote to usher in a new dawn of expanded political rights and an end to the country's international pariah status. Instead, the elections left the country more polarized.

In January, a violent security crackdown in Harare against demonstrations over fuel prices and supply left more than a dozen people dead.

Days ahead of the planned Harare demonstration, six political activists were abducted from their homes at night and beaten by armed men, a coalition of rights groups said.

On Friday, the apparatus of state was out in force again and the city's streets were unusually quiet.

Reuters witnesses saw police and armed soldiers searching buses, taxis and private vehicles at checkpoints and randomly asking for identity documents.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, seen in May in South Africa, rose to the presidential office after Robert Mugabe was removed from the office following a decades-long dictatorship. Mnangagwa has been unable to quell discontent in the southeast African country. (The Associated Press)

One woman was taken to hospital by ambulance after sustaining a deep gash on her head when baton-wielding police charged at MDC supporters.

"We want change because we are tired of promises. We are tired, enough is enough," MDC member Patience Gurure told Reuters moments before police dispersed the group.

Mnangagwa blames drought, sanctions

Businesses, including banks and shops, had closed by noon. The few employees who had come to work were told to go home.

Anger is mounting as Zimbabweans grapple with soaring inflation, rolling power cuts, and shortages of U.S. dollars, fuel and bread.

In a letter to church leaders published on Friday in the state-owned Herald newspaper, Mnangagwa said the economic hardship had its roots in sanctions imposed by the West more than a decade ago as well as a severe drought this year.

He also said MDC leader Nelson Chamisa had rejected his invitation to dialogue meant to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic problems. Chamisa has said he will only sit down with Mnangagwa if there is a neutral arbiter.

"The doors of national dialogue are still open to all political leaders including to the leader of the MDC," Mnangagwa said.

While political leaders argue, wages and pensions continue to be eroded by triple-digit inflation, bringing back bad memories of the hyperinflation of a decade ago that forced the country to ditch its currency.