British police accused of “racist” arrest of Zimbabwean sculptor at flower show

By Tererai Karimakwenda
25 May 2006

Police in the Chelsea area of London have been accused of being racist after they arrested a Zimbabwean sculptor who is in London exhibiting at The Chelsea Flower Show. Passmore Mutindiko told us he was waiting for a friend at the entrance to the venue when policemen approached him on Wednesday. Mutindiko said he told them his passport was in Windsor where his group is staying and urged them to come inside with him to their booth. But instead of verifying his claims with organisers and colleagues at the flower show, he said the police pushed and shoved him in a rough manner before taking him to the station. Mutindiko was locked up in a room for several hours. He was released Wednesday night after his passport arrived from Windsor.

Mutindiko said he is not sure why the police targeted him in the midst of a large crowd at the flower show. But he believes it was most likely because he was black. He said: “Handizive kuti seyi vasina kunetsa varungu vanga varipowo ipapo.” (I don’t know why they did not bother some of the white people that were there as well).

The Chelsea Flower Show is considered to be the largest such event in the world. Mutindiko is here with a group of sculptors who are touring several venues around the UK and in other countries around the world. They conduct workshops on Zimbabwean stone sculpture while selling their products at the different exhibitions.

Mutindiko said he was not really bitter about the incident but he did not expect to be treated this way in the U.K. Such abuses are usually reported back home in Zimbabwe where the government is harassing street vendors whose markets were destroyed by bulldozers during Operation Murambatsvina.