Woza demonstrators detained and released

By Violet Gonda
12 December 2006

More that 100 activists from the pressure groups Women of Zimbabwe Arise and Men of Zimbabwe Arise were detained outside parliament in Harare on Tuesday. Surprisingly there was no repeat of the brutal assaults that marred their last demonstration in Bulawayo . Nor were they detained for long.

Riot police used excessive force in Bulawayo last month to disperse the group which was launching its People Charter. But the latest demonstration resulted in the activists being detained briefly after they were forced to sit down on the tarmac. They had been distributing flyers focusing on the collapse of the social system and human rights violations.

Their lawyer, Otto Saki from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said; “It’s a very unusual scenario for our police I think, which caught us unaware as we were actually preparing to get the usual response of theirs - which is the beating up and detention. But this time around they did not. They only held them for two hours.

WOZA said more than 800 activists had taken part in the demonstration. The group said; “ The reaction of the Zimbabwe Republic Police today was a victory for WOZA’s non-violent strategy and for the power of social justice.”