Catherine McDuffie / January 25, 2008 / 10:56 AM / Global Crime / Post 2
Zimbabwean protesters were disbanded by police on Wednesday afternoon as they tried to test Robert Mugabe’s newly loosened hold on Zimbabwe. Mugabe has held an increasingly authoritarian rule over the repressed nation for about 28 years and has recently verbalized that he will be granting new freedoms to its citizens. Mugabe has negotiated for Zimbabwe to plan “a new constitution with a bill of rights..” although “..true freedom remains elusive.” The protesting group is called Movement for Democratic Change and simply engaged in the demonstration to see whether Mugabe was ready to loosen his grip on Zimbabwe.
Police banned this demonstration and at 4 am on Wednesday morning, officers went to Tsvangirai’s, the party leader, home and arrested him. After he was in custody, he was questioned for four hours and then released. This was followed by a court hearing where the party asked a judge to allow the rally. They were given the permission to rally, but not where they had planned. Instead they were permitted to go to a nearby park, but as the protesters arrived at the park, police were there to block their entry. The police fired tear gas and beat some of the protesters, then arrested two truck loads of the demonstrators.
This situation is very frustrating to me as I am so ready and hopefully for a change all over Africa. This leadership is very corrupt and Mugabe’s authoritarian style is not achieving anything for the good of its people or the country as a whole. I really hope that soon, and very soon, Mugabe comes to the realization that his actions are not following through with his words and that he will be convicted enough to change his strategy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012301661.html?hpid=sec-world
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