{"id":2496,"date":"2019-01-25T13:34:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T13:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2019-01-25T13:34:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T13:34:44","slug":"zimbabwe-soldiers-beating-protesters-as-crackdown-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-soldiers-beating-protesters-as-crackdown-continues","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe soldiers \u2018beating\u2019 protesters as crackdown continues"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zimbabwe government-appointed rights group says soldiers used \u2018systematic torture\u2019 during crackdown on protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Soldiers beat people on the streets of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare and second city Bulawayo overnight Tuesday, residents said, hours after President\u00a0Emmerson Mnangagwa<\/a>\u00a0promised to investigate a security service crackdown on anti-government protesters.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from the government or from the military which kept up patrols and checkpoints in both cities on Wednesday morning. The police and military have denied past accusations of using excessive force.<\/p>\n

Lawyers and activists say police and soldiers have killed at least a dozen people, wounded scores and arrested hundreds since demonstrations began 10 days ago following a sharp increase in the price of fuel. Police say three people have died during the protests.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe\u2019s government-appointed Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) accused the security forces of \u201csystematic torture\u201d and lambasted the authorities for using soldiers to curb civilian disturbances\u00a0in\u00a0a blunt statement issued on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The statement raised fears that the country is reverting to the authoritarianism that characterised the rule of Mnangagwa\u2019s predecessor,\u00a0Robert Mugabe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite a strong report against the methods that were used by law enforcement agencies, it was a strong report against the demonstrators who took the law into their own hands,\u201d presidential spokesman George Charamba told reporters in response to the report.<\/p>\n

Abuse by soldiers<\/h2>\n

Residents in two Harare townships and a neighbourhood in Bulawayo said soldiers beat people walking in the streets on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers just appeared in a truck and started beating up people at the shopping centre. They told everyone to go home and sleep,\u201d a resident from Glen Norah township in Harare, who declined to be named, told Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky because I managed to escape but this is really cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother-of-two Thabitha Mpofu told Reuters that some of the security services out in Bulawayo\u2019s Mpopoma area wore black ski masks. \u201cI saw them beating pedestrians last night. People are now scared to go out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said a woman was arrested by detectives in the capital\u2019s Kuwadzana township on Tuesday night and accused of preparing food for protesters.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa had promised earlier on Tuesday to investigate the security services\u2019 actions against anti-government protesters and called for a \u201cnational dialogue\u201d with churches, civil society and the opposition.<\/p>\n

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Zimbabwe\u2019s legal system was also in focus as a\u00a0court postponed a bail application<\/a>\u00a0by activist pastor Evan Mawarire on Wednesday and hundreds of others arrested during the crackdown awaited trial.<\/p>\n

Mawarire, who rose to prominence as a critic of Mugabe\u2019s rule, was arrested on Wednesday last week and charged with inciting violence to subvert the government \u2013 an offence punishable by up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa promised during campaigning for the July 2018 presidential vote to repair the economy and break with Mugabe\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

But a spokesman for the president said on Sunday the crackdown was a foretaste of how authorities would respond to future unrest.<\/p>\n

Protests were kindled by a\u00a0sharp rise in fuel prices<\/a>\u00a0last week.\u00a0With high inflation and a shortage of cash in circulation eating into ordinary Zimbabweans\u2019 spending power, the fragile state of the economy is at the heart of the country\u2019s political troubles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zimbabwe government-appointed rights group says soldiers used \u2018systematic torture\u2019 during crackdown on protests. Soldiers beat people on the streets of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare and second city Bulawayo overnight Tuesday, residents said, hours after President\u00a0Emmerson Mnangagwa\u00a0promised to investigate a security service crackdown on anti-government protesters. There was no immediate comment from the government or from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[31,149,167,316],"class_list":{"0":"post-2496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-mnangagwa","10":"tag-president","11":"tag-protesters","12":"tag-soldiers"},"yoast_head":"\nZimbabwe soldiers \u2018beating\u2019 protesters as crackdown continues - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-soldiers-beating-protesters-as-crackdown-continues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zimbabwe soldiers \u2018beating\u2019 protesters as crackdown continues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zimbabwe government-appointed rights group says soldiers used \u2018systematic torture\u2019 during crackdown on protests. Soldiers beat people on the streets of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare and second city Bulawayo overnight Tuesday, residents said, hours after President\u00a0Emmerson Mnangagwa\u00a0promised to investigate a security service crackdown on anti-government protesters. 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