Zimbabwe police fire tear gas at protesters as opposition denounces 'fascist' government
Record ID:
1427397
Zimbabwe police fire tear gas at protesters as opposition denounces 'fascist' government
- Title: Zimbabwe police fire tear gas at protesters as opposition denounces 'fascist' government
- Date: 16th August 2019
- Summary: HARARE, ZIMBABWE (AUGUST 16, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE FIRING TEARGAS AT PROTESTERS FROM VEHICLE / PROTESTERS RUNNING POLICE STANDING AT ROADSIDE / TEARGAS RISING / TRUCK CARRYING POLICE DRIVING PAST PROTESTERS CLAPPING AND CHANTING BEFORE POLICE DISPERSED THEM WITH TEARGAS PROTESTERS HOLDING UP PLACARD READING (English) "You are not president, but farm manager." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS RUNNING ALONG ROAD POLICE ON CORNER / PROTESTERS RUNNING PAST AND CHANTING POLICE VEHICLES DRIVING BEHIND PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 30th August 2019 11:44
- Keywords: Zimbabwe teargas protests MDC Harare police
- Location: HARARE, ZIMBABWE
- City: HARARE, ZIMBABWE
- Country: Zimbabwe
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001ASGWYTJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Zimbabwe police fired tear gas and beat scores of opposition supporters gathered in central Harare on Friday (August 16), as authorities moved to enforce a ban on an anti-government protest that the country's high court had upheld.
More than a hundred Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters defied the ban, witnesses said. They clashed with police who fired tear gas and water cannon, chasing them from one of the city's main squares with batons and drafting in reinforcements to prevent the group from re-assembling.
Friday's street demonstration was to have been the first in a nationwide series of protests organised by the MDC, which accuses Emmerson Mnangagwa's government of state-sponsored violence, corruption and economic mismanagement.
But with armed police having barred access to the party's Harare offices and its court appeal against the ban having failed, it called the protest off, denouncing what it labelled the actions of a fascist government.
The ban - announced late on Thursday (August 15) by police who said any demonstrators would be committing a crime - had exposed the government's true colours, party Vice President Tendai Biti told reporters outside the court.
(Production: Tonderai Gonorenda, Sisipho Skweyiya) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None