Police, soldiers patrol Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo as opposition protest ban
Hundreds of police backed by soldiers and army helicopters deployed in Zimbabwe’s second city on Monday, in a show of force that stopped the main opposition party from launching an anti-government protest movement for the second time in four days.
The street march in Bulawayo was called by the Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) as it looks to rally support nationwide against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which it accuses of repression and blames for the country’s worst economic crisis in a decade.
The government banned the event on Sunday. On Monday a magistrate adjourned the party’s appeal against that decision until 4 p.m. (1400 GMT), when the demonstration had been due to end.
Authorities had clamped down on a similar gathering in Harare on Friday, which the MDC called off after police there rounded up its followers and dispersed them with batons and water cannon and tear gas, prompting many shops and businesses to close.
On Monday there were no witness reports of violence in Bulawayo, an MDC heartland, and activity in the city appeared much as normal.
However, large contingents of police patrolled on foot, horseback and in vehicles, setting up checkpoints on roads leading into the city as they searched cars and people for weapons, and cordoning off the MDC offices and the magistrates court.
“The law (used to ban the protest) is clearly unconstitutional and unjust but we have an obligation to comply because we are a peaceful organisation,” David Coltart, Bulawayo lawyer and MDC senator, told Reuters before the adjournment.
