Zimbabwean Authorities Arrest, Charge Citizens Following Anti-Government Protests

No fewer than ninety-five (95) citizens had been arrested by the Zimbabwe police on Tuesday after a day of protests called by opponents of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

As reported by local news media, the group appeared before a court in Harare on charges of promoting public violence in the country.

It was observed that the turnout for the demonstrations was low, with most people staying away from the streets.

Africanews reported that a copy of the police charges accused the suspects of throwing stones and barricading a street while they gathered at Harare’s Freedom Square.

Schools and businesses were closed as people did not turn up for the protests called for a faction of veterans of the country’s 1970s liberation war against white minority rule.

Government officials and the police had encouraged the public to ignore the protest call and go about their usual routines. Security was tightened in the capital, where police dispersed a small crowd on the outskirts of the central business district.

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The faction says it is against a campaign by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s supporters for him to extend his rule beyond 2028, when his second and final term ends.

Faction leader Blessed Geza has been using posts on YouTube to rally supporters for an “uprising” against Mnangagwa. The group is backing Constantino Chiwenga, one of the president’s deputies, to replace him.

Chiwenga, who led a coup against former president Robert Mugabe when he was still a general in the military, has not commented on Mnangagwa’s term extension bid or the protests.