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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Zimbabwe
Burns
Sokwanele
June 02, 2005
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/zimbabweburns_2june2005.html
The police are
cutting a swathe of destruction across the towns and cities of Zimbabwe,
as the so called "Operation Murambatsvina" ("Operation Drive Out
Trash") continues to gather momentum. On Wednesday morning (June
1) towns as far apart as Victoria Falls and Mutare were still reeling
under the effects of a virtual blitzkrieg orchestrated and directed
from ZANU PF central command.
In Harare our
reporter was touring the streets of the city's oldest and most populous
low density suburb, Mbare, at 1.00 o'clock in the morning. He could
hardly believe his eyes at the trail of destruction and burning
and the general desolation of the scene. It resembled, he said,
an area hit by a bomb. In every direction through the filthy streets
of Mbare could be seen burning household-goods, furniture and rubble.
A few distraught residents still milled around, apparently stunned
by the speed and ferocity of the attack, although the intimidating
presence of scores of heavily armed police kept their number to
a minimum.
Similar scenes
have been reported over the last few days in Mutare, Victoria Falls
and several other centres. The campaign has all the markings of
a well-planned and coordinated blitzkrieg, although the residents
received no warning and were taken completely unawares by it. At
Victoria Falls the police burnt a 10 km long line of curio stalls
that have been there for as long as anyone can remember, and in
the town so many dwellings were torched that thousands of residents
found themselves without any shelter for the night. In Bulawayo,
one of the last centres to feel the fury of the ZANU PF attack,
a vicious police crackdown got underway on Tuesday and continued
into Wednesday morning. It is understood that many of the traders
whose stalls and produce were destroyed were operating with licences
in structures approved by the local authority.
It is known
that more than 18,000 people have been arrested and tens of thousands
of families across the nation have been left homeless.
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