Zimbabwe: Police fire teargas, beat up anti-government protesters demonstrating against economic crisis

Zimbabwe’s police have attacked opposition protesters with batons and fired teargas at crowds gathered in the centre of Harare, organised in defiance of a ban.

More than a hundred supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) gathered in Africa Unity Square ​to demonstrate against the government’s handling of the economy and its repressive crackdown against activists.

Police, who had banned the protest on Thursday, a move upheld by Zimbabwe’s High Court on Friday morning, ​fired teargas to disperse the demonstrators, who ran into nearby streets, and arrested several among the crowd.

Many shops remained closed and residents reportedly stayed off the streets.

Later yesterday, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said his party had backed down from the protest to avoid bloodshed and signalled the MDC would change tactics in confronting what it called a “fascist” government.

“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,” Nelson Chamisa told reporters in Harare.

“We will continue to mobilise 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.

Mr Chamisa said more than 80 people had been arrested.

The country of some 15 million is facing one of the worst economic crises in the last decade.

With inflation now at 175 per cent, many are fearful that the country may be tumbling to another period of hyperinflation as seen under former president Robert Mugabe, which at its peak saw rates skyrocket from 55 per cent to 79,600,000,000 per cent in just eight years, causing the collapse of the currency.

Ordinary Zimbabweans are forced to endure widespread power cuts, often lasting up to 19 hours a day, and severe water shortages.

About five million are also in dire need of food aid, according to the UN.

The opposition party, MDC, had planned what it said would be a peaceful protest to push for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 77, to set up a transitional authority to address economic problems and organise credible elections.

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But according to human rights groups, the government has sought to intimidate the opposition ahead of planned protests, with six anti-government activists abducted and allegedly tortured this week.

“Do not take part, you will rot in jail,“ shouted police officers through megaphones on Thursday in downtown Harare and some residential areas.

“We are witnessing a violent crackdown on activists and civil society leaders, with authorities using some of the brutal tactics seen under the government of Robert Mugabe”, said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa.

“Instead of listening to protesters’ concerns about the economy, the authorities have used torture and abduction to crush dissent and instill fear.“

The rights group said one activist, Tatenda Mombeyarara, was abducted on the night of 13 August from his home in Chitungwiza by unknown men armed with AK-47 rifles.

“The men placed a plastic bag over his head, bundled him into their car and drove away.

“Mombeyarara was severely beaten with metal rods on his feet and buttocks before the men dumped him near a pit in Hatfield, a suburb in the south of Harare, where they left him for dead.”

The MDC has warned that the protests will spread to other cities next week.

Mnangagwa came to power with promises of sweeping political and economic reforms, but his government is now widely viewed as an extension of Mugabe’s economic mismanagement and is becoming increasingly heavy-handed on security.

Earlier this year, at least eight were killed by security forces after the government’s decision to hike fuel prices by 150 per cent.