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E-mailPEACE DAY PROTESTERS ARRESTED – 26 JULY 2006
15 people were arrested yesterday (25 July 2009) by the Zimbabwe Republic Police for wearing black in protest against the Peace days gazetted by President Robert Mugabe. They were detained at Mbare police station from 0800hrs and released without charge at 1800hrs the same day. The police interrogated the detainees for the whole day. Tichanzii Gandanga, the ROHR secretary general visited the 15 and assured them that they will be released soon when it became obvious that the motive was dubious and meant to just frustrate the protesters.
12 of the people were ROHR members who had boarded public transport from Mbare to the City center when the bus was stopped and rerouted to Mbare police station. The other 3 were just caught in the crossfire as they were assumed to be part of the group. Alfonso Zvenyika, a former Zimbabwean boxing champion who was part to the protest said he suspected that the arrest was effected following a tip off from ZANU PF youths in Mbare suburb who were aware of the ‘peace days’ protest.
ROHR is disturbed by this behavior, because it casts shadows on any hopes that national healing can ever be achieved when people are unnecessarily arrested for peacefully expressing their displeasure with Government processes. The uniformed forces must remain impartial and resist executing political directives targeted at innocent and peaceful civilians who have a right to freedom of expression and association as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On 22 July, ROHR made a public call for people to wear black attire on 24 – 26 July in protests against the peace days proclaimed by Mugabe and in solidarity with the victims of politically motivated violence. Yesterday, ROHR Zimbabwe carried out a protest march to parliament building where people were dispersed by police. ROHR believes that there cannot be peace without national healing and that cannot come before truth, justice and compensation to victims of political violence. That should be approached holistically and whole heartedly rather than calling for symbolic days and monumental moments celebrating “new found peace and unity” while violence against civilians still continues. Governance by misdirection will not deliver the much need closure to this sensitive subject of national healing and reconciliation. Restorative justice must prevail.
ROHR ZIMBABWE PROTEST AGAINST PEACE DAYS TAKES PLACE IN HARARE – 25 JULY 2009
More than 100 people heeded ROHR Zimbabwe’s call for a demonstration against the peace days gazetted by Robert Mugabe in Harare today which we believe is ZANU PF’s idea to protect them from prosecution and the need to be accountable to what their crimes. People wore black in protest and also in solidarity with victims of last year’s political violence. The march began at Nelson Mandela corner 1st street at 9am. The singing group marched along Nelson Mandela avenue towards parliament where they confronted the police with riot gear manning the parliament building. The ROHR Harare vice chairman addressed the gathering in front of the police, saying that the peace days are of little significance to the people of Zimbabwe because no concrete steps have been taken to make them a reality especially since violence is still continuing, war veterans still empowered to be violent and rule of law still nonexistent. He mourned the absence true commitment of the part of politicians to prosecute perpetrators of politically motivated crimes and stated that victims want justice to prevail and to be compensated in some form.
ROHR Zimbabwe stands opposed to the government’s hurried process on national healing which seeks to grant a blanket amnesty to the politicians, state agents, Zanu PF militia who committed crimes with impunity.
The government’s objective to urge people to forgive and forget the previous human rights crimes does not only elude the real need for truth, justice and compensation but also it disregards the expectations of people who bore the brunt of the gross violations.
For photos of the protests, check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
For video of the protests, check: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DNNhDwRbFld0&h=53211d499284af1b9bfd40fddec3fe2a
