WOZA members beaten & arrested during peaceful demo

By Alex Bell
17 June 2009

A peaceful march by members of pressure group Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) ended in chaos in Bulawayo on Wednesday afternoon, after the group came under attack by police officials.

The WOZA march, organised to commemorate International Refugee Day on Friday, consisted of four different groups marching simultaneously from different points across Bulawayo. The groups were set to converge outside the offices of the state-owned Chronicle newspaper, which WOZA leader Jenni Williams said was a ‘test’ challenging media freedom. She explained that they wanted to test if there was any real change on the ground in Zimbabwe, adding that one of the protest groups even started its march outside Bulawayo Central Police station to test the reaction of the police.

But when three of the protesting groups arrived at the newspaper’s offices, they were set upon by police officers who viciously started beating people and arrested many involved in the march. The fourth group was stopped en-route to the offices and also faced attack by the police who also made a number of arrests. By Wednesday evening nine WOZA members were confirmed to be at Bulawayo Central Police Station facing unknown charges, while WOZA officials were still trying to track down a number of their members who had not returned home.

Three people meanwhile received medical treatment for more serious injuries sustained at the hands of the police, including an elderly woman who was pushed to the ground. Several other people sustained bruising and other soft tissue injuries after being beaten with police batons.

Williams explained that WOZA traditionally marks International Refugee Day, saying Zimbabweans are “refugees in their own country because they are displaced, unsettled and insecure.” In an earlier statement the group lashed out at the unity government for allowing a clampdown on informal trading, which is the only means of survival for most families in a country where unemployment is well beyond 90%. Williams continued that informal traders are repeatedly harassed by police and their produce is often looted and stolen.

“In a country where all goods and services are now charged in foreign currency, the inability to earn forex places the vulnerable even more at risk and forces more and more Zimbabweans to flee their country of birth to try and provide for their families,” Williams said.

Through Wednesday’s protest, WOZA said it was reminding the inclusive government and the world that the people of Zimbabwean remain the victims of an ongoing crisis, saying: “it is time to put the needs of the people first.”