Former Education Minister and top lawyer, David Coltart has said that the deployment of State security on unarmed civilians protesting against the deteriorating state of affairs was unreasonable.
He said that it only depicts that the government was very frightened.
His remarks come as State police were unleashed onto Harare streets where they violently dispersed protestors who had thronged to the streets to register their displeasure with the socio-economic crisis.
The government had prohibited that demonstration and later banned three more which the opposition MDC had scheduled saying that there was concrete evidence to suggest that the demonstrations were to turn violent.
It further says that it has a sole mandate of ensuring public safety which is being “jeopardised” by the demonstrations.
The MDC Treasurer General said:
This is a sign of a regime that is frightened, what we saw on Friday were mothers who didn’t even throw a single stone being beaten on the streets.
The heavy presence of police and helicopters for mothers in the streets without weapons is just unreasonable.
It’s a very cynical ploy used by Zanu PF, as law in Zimbabwe under Zanu PF is a weapon to be used against the opposition. The law is being selectively applied. This to me is a clear sign that this is a paranoid regime that is frightened to the core.
Several diplomatic missions in Zimbabwe have also responded to the bans on demonstrations saying that they constituted a violation of human rights and an infringement upon freedom of association.
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