37 arrested as police use patrol dogs to block NCA demo

By Tererai Karimakwenda & Violet Gonda
08 March, 2007

Members of the National Constitutional Assembly took to the streets of Harare Thursday in a peaceful demonstration for a new people driven constitution, despite the ban on public gatherings in all cities. An NCA official said the police responded with brutal force and used patrol dogs to disperse the crowd. One NCA member was allegedly injured by the dogs and many were assaulted with baton sticks.

The NCA official, who chose to remain anonymous, said about 37 NCA members were arrested and loaded onto police trucks. As of late Thursday afternoon they were being held at Harare Central police station and had still not been charged. NCA members who visited said the arrested were all seated on the floor, some with handcuffs on.

In a message to the police the NCA said it’s a pity that they are among the least paid civil servants yet they allow themselves to be used by the government to suppress people demonstrating for better living conditions.

The NCA said the demo was a clear indication that people are ready to fight for their rights and will continue to defy the illegal ban on demonstrations. The group was pleased that they managed to distribute fliers demanding a new constitution and others advertising a rally scheduled for Sunday and organized by the Save Zimbabwe Coalition.

On Wednesday WOZA members had marched through the streets of Mutare and launched their People’s Charter without any reported arrests.

In other news on arrested demonstrators, 9 members of WOZA who were arrested Monday in Gweru, while taking food to others in custody, appeared in court late Thursday morning. They were released on bail and were remanded to 23rd March. No other WOZA members are in detention in Gweru.

In Masvingo the 20 WOZA members who were arrested Tuesday are still in police custody. It is not clear what they are being charged with.

Meanwhile all the activists who were arrested on Wednesday in Mutare during a Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition meeting, have been released. The coalition had defied a government ban and tried to hold a meeting in the eastern border town, when riot police blocked the peaceful gathering. One of the Crisis officers Itai Zimunya said the spirit of defiance was electrifying. Zimunya explained that when the police came in two Mazda B2200 trucks armed with AK47’s and teargas, people would have runaway under normal circumstances. But in this case everyone in the hall just sat down in defiance. “Normally the police take advantage of the stampede and start beating people but yesterday people stood their ground.”

The coalition said about 90 human rights activists had been briefly detained.

Zimunya said they noticed that within the police force in Mutare there were some professional officers who wanted to do their duty without mixing politics. These brave officers had even tried to reason with the batch of riot police that came to arrest the activists by telling them that they had been monitoring the meeting and nothing untoward had happened. “But we understand that the other group (riot police) that came around 11am had been phoned by the Commissioners that were appointed by Dr. Ignatius Chombo to run the affairs of the City of Mutare . They were also phoned by some unscrupulous ZANU PF elements that had noticed that some meeting was taking place.”