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Police arrest leading Zimbabwe activist after protests
HARARE, Jan 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Leading Zimbabwean activist Evan Mawarire
was arrested on Wednesday when he was taken from his house by armed police in
a widening crackdown after violent anti-government protests.
The nationwide protests were triggered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
announcement at the weekend that fuel would more than double in price as the
country’s economic crisis deepens.
Police had been at Mawarire’s property for more than two hours before he
was driven away in a pick-up truck.
“Armed police surrounded his residence this morning,” Teldah Mawarire, his
sister, told AFP. “I was directly in contact with him until he was taken and
he could no longer be online. We are very concerned.”
Mawarire’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told reporters he had been taken to a
city centre police station.
“He has been arrested, accused of inciting violence through social media,”
she told AFP.
Security forces have shot dead at least five people and wounded 25 others
during the crackdown since Monday’s protests, according to Human Rights
Watch.
HRW said security forces responded with live ammunition, rubber bullets
and teargas on Monday after protesters burned a police station, barricaded
roads and looted shops in Harare, Kadoma and Bulawayo cities.
Zimbabwe’s mobile phone networks and internet were shut down for the
second day on Wednesday.
– President dismisses protests –
Evan Mawarire, a pastor, became a prominent voice in 2016 protests when he
posted social media videos criticising the government while he wore a
Zimbabwean flag around his neck.
The videos inspired the ThisFlag movement that led mass protests across the
country against Robert Mugabe, the long-time president who was ousted in 2017
after a military takeover.
Mawarire, who was holding a Zimbabwean flag as he was taken away on
Wednesday, has also been a fierce critic of Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s successor.
Mnangagwa, 76, left on a trip abroad after unveiling the fuel price hike in
a televised address late Saturday. “There were some protests happening
yesterday but they are almost fizzling out,” he told Russian media on
Tuesday.
Police and soldiers have been accused of indiscriminately dragging people
from their houses in Harare and beating them. About 200 people have been
arrested.
Mnangagwa — Mugabe’s former deputy — has claimed that he represents a
fresh start and has vowed to revive the shattered economy by attracting
foreign investment.
But since his disputed election victory in July, the country has been hit
by renewed shortages of fuel, bread, medicine and other daily essentials.
– ‘Unsolvable economic mess’ –
“Mnangagwa was not able to engineer any sort of economic recovery so he
hasn’t been able to open up political space,” Derek Matyszak, Harare-based
analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, told AFP.
“Investment he was hoping for has not materialised. The economic mess is
unsolvable in the short term, so the administration is reacting in the way of
ZANU-PF knows best — with a very heavy hand.
“The biggest signal of the return of repressive policies of Mugabe is the
shutdown of internet. They have obviously have no qualms about how the
international community sees them.”
Zimbabwe’s economy has been in ruins since hyperinflation wiped out
savings between 2007 and 2009, when the Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned in
favour of the US dollar.
Official inflation is at 31 percent though many say the real rate is far
higher.
Long queues lasting hours or even days form outside petrol stations and
banks, where both fuel and cash are rationed.
With US dollar notes scarce, Zimbabweans are forced to withdraw “bond
notes” — supposedly equal to US dollars but worth far less in reality.
Mugabe, now 94, was ousted in November 2017 when the military, fearing
that his wife Grace was being lined up to succeed him, seized control and
forced him to resign.
BSS/AFP/RY/1745 hrs