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Repression intensifies
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
January 18, 2007

ZINASU leadership detained
The government's goal to silence and thwart all efforts to save the various ailing sectors of the nation was again revealed when the police arrested 10 members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) leadership in Bulawayo on Tuesday the 16th of January. Among the arrested were Promise Mkwananzi, the ZINASU President and Beloved Chiweshe the Secretary General, Student's Representative Council (SRC) members from different colleges in the country. The reason for the arrests and subsequent detention at Matobo Police Station has not been stated and to date, only Mkwananzi has been released.

Crisis Coalition deplores the continuous persecution of student leaders who have taken it upon themselves to save the educational fraternity that has deteriorated dismally. The sub-standard conditions at various institutions and the escalating costs of education have caused many students to drop out of school. It is on record that the government has decided to use force and violence to silence students and other members of the civil society who are critical to the government's stance on democratic principles.

NCA demo disrupted
In yet another show of the government's failure to recognize the people's right to freedom of expression, an estimated 900 members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) were stopped from demonstrating by the police yesterday. The peaceful march to parliament was disrupted before the demonstrators reached the destination.

There was pandemonium as police descended on the unarmed demonstrators with baton sticks and tear gas canisters. About 25 people were arrested only to be released after 5 hours with out a charge. One serious injury was recorded when people tried to run away from the police and one person fell from a moving vehicle. According to Mr. Ernest Mudzengi, the National Coordinator of the NCA, the police are bent on instilling fear in the people of Zimbabwe so that they don't register their disappointment with the governance crisis facing the nation. He went on to state that the people will not succumb to pressure from the government through the police or the army to keep quiet until a new democratic dispensation emerges.

It is the Coalition's view that people have a democratic right to express their views and exercise their right to freedom of association. The police should exercise their duties with professionalism and not allow the government to politicize their institution.

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