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Index of results, reports, press stmts and articles on March 31 2005 General Election - post Mar 30
Zim
women arrested at vigil
News24
March 31, 2005
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_1683680,00.html
Harare - Zimbabwean police
on Thursday rounded up and detained 200 women preparing for an all-night
prayer vigil in Harare's main square for "divine intervention"
as the country awaited results from key elections.
The women, some with babies
strapped on their backs, converged on the centre of Africa Unity Square
in central Harare before the police broke up their gathering and took
them in trucks to the capital's main police station.
The police said the women had
breached Zimbabwe's tough security laws which ban political gatherings
without police clearance.
"The prayer is for sanity
and divine intervention as we wait for the results of the election,"
Jenni Williams, from the Women of Zimbabwe Arise group, just before the
arrests.
"We will continue praying
and listening to the news until the results are announced."
Zimbabweans cast ballots on
Thursday in elections that pitted President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) to the and main opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).
Politicians
must address crises
Williams said
the women chose the venue which is adjacent to Zimbabwe's Parliament "hoping
the new parliament will repeal repressive laws like the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA)" that prohibits gatherings without police permission.
"We also hope politicians
stop politicking and address the real crisis which Zimbabweans are facing.
These women have children and grandchildren who need good education, health
and food."
Zimbabwe's economy has been
on a downturn in the past five years with a triple-digit inflation, unemployment
pegged at 70% and high poverty levels worsened by the country's international
isolation.
Last month police arrested
50 women in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo while they were
marching for peace in Thursday's elections.
Police also picked
up and briefly detained two AFP journalists who were covering the prayer
vigil on Thursday.
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