Police in Zimbabwe Friday picked up around 40 women handing out flowers in the capital to protest against violence, an AFP reporter saw.
The woman had gathered outside United Nations offices in central Harare, where they sang an African hymn and handed out red roses with a label that read: ”Women say no to violence.”
At least three cameramen trying to cover the demonstration were also picked up. An AFP photographer covering the demonstration had his cameras confiscated. They were part of an organisation named Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA), which had planned to hold demonstrations in several Zimbabwean cities on Valentine’s Day, in what they said was ”a march for love”.
Some of the demonstrators, who included nuns and elderly women, were dressed in white as the protest organisers had asked.
They had not been granted police clearance for their demonstrations, necessary under Zimbabwe’s strict new security laws.
Riot police maintained a heavy presence in the city and the women were rounded up and taken away in the back of police Land Rovers.
In press releases before Friday the women said they were protesting ”the violence prevalent in our lives” and lobbying for ”a return to a spirit of love and peace” in Zimbabwe.
They said they would ask UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to ”be our Valentine”. – Sapa-AFP