Zimbabwe: Mugabe s riot police viciously attack activists
by - 04.07.2002 14:22
MORE THAN EIGHTY ARRESTED AND BEATEN ON PEACEFUL COMMEMORATION OF SOWETO UPRISING IN HARARE
Received 16/06/2002 at 17:00:
Dear comrades,
It was the day of the African Child, a commemoration in honour of the students who were massacred in Soweto by the apartheid regime, the MDC had organised a youth rally, the leadership chickened out and they did not show up because ZANU-PF had threatened to crush the rally. Their phones were off when we tried to get hold of them, so it turned out that the ISO comrades were the only visible leadership, to lead the hundreds of youths gathered. Munyaradzi Gwisai and myself took to the podium, when I was still addressing the crowd the riot police descended on us and started attacking people, the trucks actually drove right into the crowd injuring some people, Gwisai tried to reason with the police as a leader, they wouldn't even listen to him, instead they thrashed him severely and whoever was in sight. Gwisai and more than eighty others have been taken to the cells, will write fully later,
Briggs
Received 17/06/2002:
Dear Comrades,
A lawayer managed to see the arrested comrades yeaterday evening - in all 83 have been detained.
What we witnessed yesterday and the stories we got from other comrades there was horrific - it was brutality of the worst order. POLICE CORDONED OFF FOUR BLOCKS AND SYSTEMATICALLY BRUTALISED UNARMED CIVILIANS FOR SEVERAL HOURS. A WOMAN SHOWED US HER BADLY SWOLLEN UPPER ARM AND SHOULDER AFTER SHE HAD BEEN SAVAGELY BEATEN WITH A RIFLE BUTT. ANOTHER YOUNG COMRADE SHOWED US HIS SMASHED KNEE-CAP. WE HEARD STORIES FROM THE POLICE CELLS OF HOW DETAINEES WERE MADE TO LIE FACE DOWN AND THEN WHIPPED WITH TRUNCHEONS AND BATONS ON THEIR BACK AND BACKSIDES. TWO ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN THE CELLS AND NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION. We are trying to get them to a hospital.
The police turned up to the peaceful gathering in a vicious uncompromisind mood. They were armed to the teeth and drove straight into the crowd. They jumped off their truck and began their attack wihout warning. WHAT WAS STRIKING WAS THE LACK OF TEAR-GAS THIS TIME - THEY WERE ARMED WITH LIVE AMMUNITION.
The lack of assistance from the leadership of the MDC is also striking. I spoke to Tendai Biti (MP Hahare East) and Nelson Chamisa (Youth Wing Chairman) yesterday. They both claimed that lawyers had been sent over. Yet three hours later no lawyers were there. It was only because we had organised another lawyer that the detainees got legal representation. Please phone Tendai Biti on +263-11-602401 or +263-4-751887, +263-4-775573 and Nelson Chamisa on +263-91-241742 to pressure them over this lack of organisation and support.
WIll send more details later this morning.
Rosa Zulu, ISO Zimbabwe
What else you can do to secure their release:
* email messages of support
isozim@hotmail.com
* telephone the central police station: (00263 4) 733033/ 721212/ 736931/ 725803
* raise money - those arrested have nothing for food, medical care and legal assistance (details of bank account will be provided soon).
* It is essential that we spread the word - please forward and raise the demand for their immediate release at trade union meetings and on protests.
For those of you in South Africa action is particularly important. Those arrested were commemorating the young anti-Apartheid fighters killed in Soweto - who Mugabe supported!
Dear comrades,
It was the day of the African Child, a commemoration in honour of the students who were massacred in Soweto by the apartheid regime, the MDC had organised a youth rally, the leadership chickened out and they did not show up because ZANU-PF had threatened to crush the rally. Their phones were off when we tried to get hold of them, so it turned out that the ISO comrades were the only visible leadership, to lead the hundreds of youths gathered. Munyaradzi Gwisai and myself took to the podium, when I was still addressing the crowd the riot police descended on us and started attacking people, the trucks actually drove right into the crowd injuring some people, Gwisai tried to reason with the police as a leader, they wouldn't even listen to him, instead they thrashed him severely and whoever was in sight. Gwisai and more than eighty others have been taken to the cells, will write fully later,
Briggs
Received 17/06/2002:
Dear Comrades,
A lawayer managed to see the arrested comrades yeaterday evening - in all 83 have been detained.
What we witnessed yesterday and the stories we got from other comrades there was horrific - it was brutality of the worst order. POLICE CORDONED OFF FOUR BLOCKS AND SYSTEMATICALLY BRUTALISED UNARMED CIVILIANS FOR SEVERAL HOURS. A WOMAN SHOWED US HER BADLY SWOLLEN UPPER ARM AND SHOULDER AFTER SHE HAD BEEN SAVAGELY BEATEN WITH A RIFLE BUTT. ANOTHER YOUNG COMRADE SHOWED US HIS SMASHED KNEE-CAP. WE HEARD STORIES FROM THE POLICE CELLS OF HOW DETAINEES WERE MADE TO LIE FACE DOWN AND THEN WHIPPED WITH TRUNCHEONS AND BATONS ON THEIR BACK AND BACKSIDES. TWO ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN THE CELLS AND NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION. We are trying to get them to a hospital.
The police turned up to the peaceful gathering in a vicious uncompromisind mood. They were armed to the teeth and drove straight into the crowd. They jumped off their truck and began their attack wihout warning. WHAT WAS STRIKING WAS THE LACK OF TEAR-GAS THIS TIME - THEY WERE ARMED WITH LIVE AMMUNITION.
The lack of assistance from the leadership of the MDC is also striking. I spoke to Tendai Biti (MP Hahare East) and Nelson Chamisa (Youth Wing Chairman) yesterday. They both claimed that lawyers had been sent over. Yet three hours later no lawyers were there. It was only because we had organised another lawyer that the detainees got legal representation. Please phone Tendai Biti on +263-11-602401 or +263-4-751887, +263-4-775573 and Nelson Chamisa on +263-91-241742 to pressure them over this lack of organisation and support.
WIll send more details later this morning.
Rosa Zulu, ISO Zimbabwe
What else you can do to secure their release:
* email messages of support
isozim@hotmail.com
* telephone the central police station: (00263 4) 733033/ 721212/ 736931/ 725803
* raise money - those arrested have nothing for food, medical care and legal assistance (details of bank account will be provided soon).
* It is essential that we spread the word - please forward and raise the demand for their immediate release at trade union meetings and on protests.
For those of you in South Africa action is particularly important. Those arrested were commemorating the young anti-Apartheid fighters killed in Soweto - who Mugabe supported!