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Further
allegations of police brutality in Zim
Mail & Guardian (SA)
November 01, 2006
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=288631&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Police in the
Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on Wednesday used batons to break up
a demonstration by scores of pro-democracy activists, arresting
three protesters, a spokesperson for the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) claimed.
At least 250 members
of the NCA, including chairperson Lovemore Madhuku, were rounded
up by police in Africa Unity Square in central Harare while demonstrating
for a new Constitution, official Earnest Mudzengi told the media
in a telephone interview.
The spokesperson
said Madhuku was separated from the rest of the crowd and bundled
into a police vehicle. Then the police turned on the rest of the
demonstrators, he alleged.
"They [the police]
beat them. They beat them up and they remained seated," Mudzengi
claimed.
He said two other
NCA members, Marko Shoko and Shingirai Nyakudya, were also arrested
on allegations that they stoned a police vehicle. Mudzengi denied
the allegations.
"We as the NCA
are condemning this act of brutality by police," he said.
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama
confirmed the arrests. He said police had not yet preferred charges
against his three clients, who are being detained at Harare central
police station.
The NCA has been
at the forefront of pressing for a new Constitution to replace a
26-year-old document that was last week described by church groups
in a national vision document as being in a sorry state.
In his response
to the church document, President Robert Mugabe last week defended
Zimbabwe's current Constitution, describing it as genuine and homegrown.
However, Mudzengi
on Wednesday said the NCA's pursuit of a new people-driven Constitution
was legitimate.
"A homegrown Constitution
can be dictatorial. His [Mugabe's] comments are meant to mislead
people," Mudzengi said. "The police action displayed today [Wednesday]
is not going to deter us from staging more demonstrations." -- Sapa-dpa
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