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WOZA in prayer commemoration of 31 March 2005
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
March 27, 2006

WOZA members will gather in prayer this week. Women will gather to mark the anniversary of the arrest and brutal treatment of over 260 women at the hands of Police in Africa Unity Square, Harare on 31 March 2005. Many of our members are still suffering medical complications and distress as a result of the beatings they received.

Activities will begin at St Marys Cathedral, Lobengula street, Bulawayo on Wednesday 29 March with a 10 to 1pm prayer and testimonies.

A prayer service will be held in Harare on 31March but a venue is still to be finalised. Any help with this will be gratefully received.

We invite all clerics, friends, both male and female, and all those interested in showing solidarity to attend.

Background Reflection
By 7pm 31 March 2005, proceedings started at Africa Unity Square, with about 150 women and more trickling in. Journalists were in attendances and interviews were conducted. After about 2 prayers and during the third song, a police defender vehicle arrived.

About 12 officers got out and immediately surrounded us. They started barking at us. We all remained seated. They radioed for support and started to load us into the vehicle beating us as we were being loaded in. As more women were still trickling in they continued to arrest women from 7 to 11 pm and by then approximately 300 women and about 20 babies were in custody.

Reports received from other groups at Africa Unity Square were that Police officers made them lie down and walked on them with their heavy boots. Then they were beaten one by one and made to count how many strokes they had received. They were supposed to receive 5 strokes each. This was the same for the groups arrested at the railway station and in the streets leading to Africa Unity Square. Police made women sing 'Zanu ndeye Ropa' and shouted at them saying 'Go back to Bulawayo to your Blair and MDC', 'Kusina amai akuyendwe' (where you have no mother you do not go), 'You Matabele people are stubborn and proud for nothing' and most were tribalistic comments, and even against the Shona women from Harare and Bulawayo.

Most leaders were arrested in the first groups and they watched as women were being off loaded and beaten to make then get out the vehicles fast so hurting themselves in the process. We were kept in an open area opposite the car park under armed guard. As usual we were denied access to food, lawyers, toilets and constantly harassed and taunted. Medical treatment for those severely beaten was denied.

The next morning saw the Police trying to bully us into paying fines and women verbally demonstrating for lawyer's attendance. They were eventually granted consultation at 10 am and the paying of fines began. Some babies had begun to faint from hunger. An ambulance had to be called to ferry injured women to hospital. One woman spent one whole month in hospital recovering from the assault on her, which included fracturing her skull. Over 120 women have received treatment for injuries sustained in this brutal attack, with about 70 of those being Bulawayo women.

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