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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Strikes and Protests 2007/8 - Index of articles
Churches
in Bulawayo defy police ban
The
Zimbabwean
May 28, 2007
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=3&linkid=8&id=4608
CHURCHES in
Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo dubbed Churches in Zimbabwe
(CIB) coalition on Saturday defied a police order and held Operation
Murambatsvina commemorations in the city despite threats against
holding the event.
Police had declared
the event barred under the notorious Public
Order and Security Act (POSA) despite the fact that it was a
church gathering.
Under POSA,
Zimbabweans are supposed to seek police clearance before holding
meetings or demonstrations. But churches are exempted from seeking
clearance for their gatherings and sermons.
Said Pastor
Raymond Motsi, a spokesperson for the CIB that organized the event:
"This is a church gathering that needs no authorization and
that is why we did not heed the police ban."
However, victims
of the operation, in their testimonies, said they still had no accommodation
as they did not benefit from the re-construction exercise, Operation
Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai.
They claimed
they 'are now worse off due to the grinding economic crises.' Estimates
by the United Nations say over 700 000 Zimbabweans were affected
by the operation.
Police under
the clean up Operation were demolishing thousands of dwellings and
makeshift stalls of small traders saying they were unlicensed.
President Robert
Mugabe defended the Operation saying it was necessary because the
cities were overrun with dirt and criminals and had become 'havens
of illicit and criminal practices.which could not be allowed to
go on.'- CAJ News.
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