Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Zimbabwe activist in court after protests

1108488
1108488
minus
plus


Harare: Zimbabwean activist Evan Mawarire arrived in court in Harare on Thursday to face subversion charges as authorities cracked down on anti-government protests in which doctors say 68 people suffered gunshot wounds.


Nationwide demonstrations erupted on Monday after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that fuel prices were being doubled in a country suffering regular shortages of fuel, food and medicine.


Mnangagwa, who succeeded ousted president Robert Mugabe in 2017, had promised a fresh start for Zimbabwe after decades of repression and economic decline.


Mawarire, a leading government critic, was arrested at his home on Wednesday and accused of inciting violence through social media.


“I can’t tell you how disappointing it is. We thought we had a new country and a new way of doing things,” he told reporters outside court. “None of what I am being accused of is what I have done at all. If we have true justice in this country, let’s see it at play. I am very upset.”


Trade unions had called a national strike on Monday over the fuel price hikes, and furious demonstrations took place in several cities with widespread rioting and looting.


Security forces have since arrested hundreds of suspects in a crackdown decried by rights groups.


Police and soldiers have been accused of indiscriminately dragging people from their homes in Harare and beating them.


The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said it had treated 68 people for serious gunshot wounds, criticising the “disproportionate response by the state apparatus” to the protests.


Local action groups have put the death toll at between five and 16. — AFP



SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon