At least 36 Zimbabwe rights activists still detained

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dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday November 30, 2006

Harare- At least 36 Zimbabwean rights activists remained in custody Thursday after they were arrested for staging a protest march in the second city of Bulawayo, a rights groups said. Six of those held overnight Wednesday were mothers with babies, said Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) in a statement.

Riot police on Wednesday used batons to break up a crowd of around 200 WOZA demonstrators who had marched to government offices in central Bulawayo to mark International Women Human Rights Defenders Day.

At least 25 people had to receive medical treatment for injuries received from police batons and from being trampled underfoot by people trying to escape a beating, the statement said.

One woman had her leg broken in the stampede, WOZA said.

Initially more than 60 people were arrested, but some people were later released.

The singing and placard-waving demonstrators had also intended to launch a People's Charter that calls for social justice in the crisis-riddled southern African country.

In its statement, WOZA said 41 people who were freed Wednesday were ordered by police to pick up fliers and placards left outside the government offices.

As they bent down to pick up the papers, police assaulted them on the buttocks and backs with baton sticks and booted feet, the group said.

Bystanders and passers-by that were seen reading the flyers were also assaulted.

WOZA claims women are bearing the brunt of the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, where inflation has spiralled beyond 1,000 per cent and there are shortages of basics like fuel, foreign currency and some foodstuffs.

The group has called on its supporters to bang empty pots and pans outside their homes for two minutes every evening to mark the 16 days of activism against gender violence being held in Zimbabwe until December 10.

Two months ago, trade union officials were arrested and beaten by police in the capital Harare as they tried to launch street protests against poor wages and shortages of anti-AIDS drugs.

Last month the New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned what it said was the intensified use of torture and arbitrary arrest to suppress dissent in Zimbabwe.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency