Protests off to quiet start in Zim

2003-06-06 10:00

Harare - The situation in Zimbabwe was quiet on Friday morning, as the country braced for bloody confrontation after the opposition renewed calls for supporters to march to demand President Robert Mugabe step down, and the government vowed to crush the protests.

The government said a court order banning anti-government demonstrations was still in force and further protests would be stopped, state television reported.

It said leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change faced contempt of court charges and would be imprisoned if protests went ahead on Friday.

The opposition should instead take an "exemplary" stand and call off the protests, the television reported.

Reinforcements of police and troops have been deployed across the country. A military helicopter, fitted with launcher pods used to fire teargas, swooped over the capital, Harare, on Thursday.

Witnesses in the eastern Harare township of Mabvuku said troops broke up gatherings of people there late on Thursday, suspecting them of organising protests for Friday, and fired live ammunition into the air.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.

'Rise up'

A national strike shut down much of the troubled southern African country's economy this week although government forces have brutally cut down planned street demonstrations.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described Friday as the "D-Day" of this declared weeklong protest.

"You have been harassed, abused, tortured and brutalised. Your leaders have been abducted and arrested. Rise up in your millions to demonstrate publicly your utmost disapproval of this violent dictatorship," the opposition said in advertisements and fliers calling for mass marches on Friday.

The party said it would not be deterred by the violent crackdown by riot and police under orders to crush all signs of protest. It called on Zimbabweans to gather in central squares and downtown districts across the country on Friday to force Mugabe from office after 23 years in power.

"Don't be afraid," the notices exhorted. "Victory is in sight."

Security forces using rifle butts, volleys of live fire, teargas and water cannons have so far prevented any large scale street demonstrations.

Independent human rights monitors said scores of people were injured as police and troops patrolled impoverished township suburbs and, along with ruling party vigilantes, assaulted suspected opponents, often raiding their homes at night.

Police and security agents also raided a private hospital on Wednesday where victims of police and army assaults were being treated.

Independent monitors said most new victims of violence were injured in a wave of government retribution against the protests.

"In most situations, groups of vigilantes beating up people stormed into the victims' houses at night, dragged people out of bed and beat them up.

"Two of the middle aged women victims that I spoke to were beaten while they were naked...one of them in front of her is husband and kids," said one monitor, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

'Intimidating behavior' at hospitals

He said victims now spoke of "hatred of a regime that is literally driving the people to levels where real conflict is possible".

A doctors' group, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, said in a statement on Thursday it was worried by the heavy presence and "intimidating behavior" of security forces in hospitals.

The group said that there were cases of injured patients being refused access to emergency facilities and at least one being seized by police before receiving medical attention.

"Access to treatment is a fundamental human right regardless of political affiliation," the doctors' group said.

Police say at least 300 people have been arrested during protests, including opposition lawmakers and officials.

The opposition blames Mugabe for sinking the country into political and economic ruin. There are shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and currency, and annual inflation is at 269 percent. Widespread starvation has been avoided only with international aid.

Many stores, businesses and most factories in the heavy industry districts across the country remained closed on Thursday despite government threats against businesses supporting the strike.

The government said it would withdraw trading licenses of companies that stopped work.

Agriculture, the biggest sector of the economy, has ground to a virtual standstill since Mugabe's controversial land reform program was completed last year.

The majority of white-owned commercial farmland was seized, ostensibly for redistribution to landless blacks. Many of the prime farms, however, have gone to Mugabe confidantes. Most of the farms given over to poor blacks have been divided into small subplots. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA