Residents said soldiers and police were patrolling the streets of townships around the capital Harare and assaulting some people in their homes – a tactic used by Robert Mugabe’s security services during his almost four decades of increasingly repressive rule. Human rights activists say more than 100 people have been treated for serious injuries including gunshot wounds. The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said there have also been unconfirmed reports of civilian deaths across the country, including one person who was allegedly run over by a security forces truck in the capital Harare.
Joana Mamombe, an opposition lawmaker, said she was in hiding after soldiers sought her out at her parents’ home on Tuesday and beat up her father, leaving him hospitalised and unable to sit.
She told Reuters: “I am very scared for my life. This is a crackdown on those of us who oppose this government. They want to silence opposition voices.”
Evan Mawarire, an activist pastor who rose to prominence as a Mugabe critic and led a national shutdown in 2016, told Reuters police had surrounded his house after he used Facebook posts to urge Zimbabweans to join the stay-at-home protest.
He was bundled into a truck by about a dozen armed police early on Wednesday and was charged with inciting public violence and detained, his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said.
Mass protests have taken place across the country this week following an economic crisis which has seen the cost of basic goods spiral.
In the past two months, the country has suffered acute shortages of imported goods, including medicines, food and fuel.
And Zimbabweans with money in the bank can do little but watch as their balance loses value compared with cash after authorities attempted to stave off a currency shortage by introducing a new paper ‘bond note’.
Authorities cut off internet services on Tuesday, some of which were partially restored today.
But social media platforms like Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter remained blocked because of a government order, prompting accusations that the government was attempting to stop details of the crackdown being broadcast around the world.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, on a trip to Russia and the World Economic Forum in Davos, said he was “deeply saddened” by the violent protests.
He said in a Facebook post: “Resolving Zimbabwe’s economic challenges is a monumental task, and while it may not always feel that way, we are moving in the right direction.”
Police said on Tuesday they had arrested more than 200 people following the protests.
Three people, including a police officer, died in violent demonstrations on Monday.