The Zimbabwe government has denied claims by the main labour union that more than a dozen of its members were assaulted in police custody following foiled street protests last month, it was reported Friday.
Members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were injured while trying to resist arrest by jumping off police vehicles, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Reuben Marumahoko told Parliament on Thursday.
No one was assaulted in the police cells and the police used minimum force, the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted the minister as saying during a debate.
On Tuesday a Harare magistrate dismissed an internal police investigation that exonerated the alleged perpetrators of the assaults and ordered a probe by detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) instead.
Magistrate William Bhila also postponed the trial of 31 ZCTU protesters until October 17, as several of the union members were still nursing injuries, including fractured arms and fingers and bruises they allegedly received in police custody.
The ZCTU had called the September 13 protests to push for higher wages, greater access to anti-Aids drugs and an end to Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis. The brutal behaviour of the police has provoked widespread criticism both in Zimbabwe and abroad.
Last week the United Nations country team in Zimbabwe said it viewed with profound dismay the apparent condoning of the police action by the authorities here.
Top government officials, including President Robert Mugabe, have said they were satisfied with the way the police behaved.
Mugabe told the Herald after the incident: ”Police were right in dealing sternly with Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions leaders during their demonstration … because the trade unionists want to become a law unto themselves”.
”We cannot have a situation where people decide to sit in places not allowed and when the police remove them, they say no,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.
”We can’t have that, that is a revolt to the system. When the police say move, move. If you don’t move, you invite the police to use force,” Mugabe said. – Sapa-DPA