Protesters clash with police and army during stayaway

By Lance Guma
15 April 2008

A muted response to a call for a stayaway by the MDC was punctuated by sporadic clashes between police, army and opposition protesters on Tuesday. Although many businesses opened as usual around the country MDC youths in several suburbs like Budiriro, Highfields, Dzivaresekwa, Mufakose, Glen View and Warren Park D barricaded roads and blocked public transport operators from picking up workers going to work. The MDC called the stayaway in an effort to pressure Mugabe’s regime to release results of the March 29 presidential election. Seventeen days after the poll the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, under orders from Zanu PF, has refused to do so.

Although there were no injuries several buses were burnt and gunshots were fired by police during Tuesday’s skirmishes. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed the clashes but declined to give details saying they were still compiling their reports. Newsreel spoke to Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition spokesman Macdonald Lewanika, who gave a break down of the incidents. In the early hours of the morning disgruntled youths burnt down a bus in Warren Park D. Another partially burnt bus was seen in Highfields. Angry youths barricaded roads with stones and other objects and blocked transporters from carrying people.

In Glen View and Dzivaresekwa several buses were stoned for defying the stayaway. Lewanika said a good number of shops and businesses in Harare were shut down in the morning but opened later in the day. People he spoke to said they were unaware of the stayaway and would have heeded the call if they knew.

With unemployment at over 80 percent and most people self-employed, stayaway’s are never easy. Those interviewed by Newsreel said no one can save money because of the inflation and so people rely on day-to-day transactions to feed their families. ‘Just one day of closing my workshop for a stayaway will cause immense suffering for my family, let alone several days of a stayaway,’ one carpenter told us. Others simply refused to take the risk of losing their jobs.

It was however not all doom and gloom for the MDC as some businesses, factories and shops around the country closed their premises. Fearing violence good number of public transporters took their vehicles off the road. Long snaking queues in areas like Chitungwiza could be seen as some workers, fearing reprisals from the government, tried to go to work as usual. ‘The opposition might have won the election and have the support of the people but Zanu PF have all the guns,’ remarked one analyst. Adding to the intimidation, thousands of armed soldiers and police were deployed countrywide.

A report on the ZimbabweJournalists.com website says police in Mutare, armed with AK rifles, teargas canisters and baton sticks, patrolled the suburbs there. The website says the presence of 10 Chinese soldiers staying at a local Holiday Inn has created quite a stir. The Chinese are staying there with around 70 Zimbabwe National Army soldiers. ‘We were shocked to see Chinese soldiers in their full military regalia and armed with pistols checking in at the hotel,’ said one worker. ‘When they signed checking-in forms they did not indicate the nature of the business that they are doing or their addresses.’ No official comment has been given on their presence.