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Police raid and detain internally displaced persons
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
February 08, 2011

Police on Monday 07 February 2011 raided church premises in Glen Norah suburb, in Harare where at least 100 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were seeking refuge after fleeing from their homes in Mbare suburb due to the wave of political violence that erupted in that area and other high density suburbs in Harare since mid January 2011.

As a result of this violence residential homes and other properties were destroyed and some victims were also stripped of their means of livelihood.

The police surrounded the church premises at around 18:00hrs and indiscriminately without any just cause started to mercilessly assault some of the internally displaced persons (IDP)'s, who were present at the church.

At least 51 people were then taken to Glen Norah Police Station and they were not at any time advised of their circumstances-of being placed in police custody, charges being faced or whether they were under arrest. Of those taken to the police station, 27 were males while 24 were females. These included 11 minor children aged between seven months and 15 years of age.

The 51 Internally Displaced Persons were released without any charges being leveled against them at around mid-night on 07 February 2011, after Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) intervened. Their names, identification (ID) numbers and previous residential addresses were recorded and they were sternly warned not to perpetrate violence in Glen Norah. The police also asked general questions relating to who was sponsoring food, blankets and other amenities for them.

When lawyers queried the reason for detaining the people, police indicated that they merely wanted to inquire into the circumstances leading to the internally displaced persons being at the church premises in question.

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