HARARE: Zimbabwe police beat up and arrested opposition activists and a journalist during a rally yesterday, witnesses said, as regional leaders met for a key summit.
Harare riot police used batons to break up a demonstration by youth from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) demanding that veteran President Robert Mugabe deliver on his pre-election promise to create two million jobs.
The protest came as leaders from the Southern African Development Community — a 15-member bloc — met in the resort town of Victoria Falls for an annual summit, which elected Mugabe chair.
“The newly appointed SADC chairperson Robert Mugabe crushed jobless youth in Harare today,” Clifford Hlatshwayo, spokesman for the MDC youth wing who was present, told AFP. Police were not immediately available to comment.
A reporter from the privately-owned Zimbabwe Mail said her colleague, photojournalist Angela Jimu, was also beaten up by police at the Harare rally and had two of her cameras and a mobile phone confiscated.
“We were covering the demonstration by MDC youths when police started beating up the protesters,” the reporter said.
“When the police realised that Angela was taking pictures, they beat her with batons... They took her to central police station together with several others. I could see she was in pain.”
Constantine Chimakure, editor of the Zimbabwe Mail, later said that journalist Angela Jimu was eventually freed without charge.
AFP
