Zimbabwe’s main trade union said on Friday that police were guilty of attempted murder when they beat dozens of protestors earlier this week.
About 150 members of the pro-democracy National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) had to be hospitalised after police arrested and beat them on Wednesday, reports said on Friday.
Lovemore Madhuku, the head of the NCA, said the assaults were worse than those perpetrated in March this year when opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and a number of his supporters were beaten.
”What this goes to show is that the Zimbabwean government does not value the sanctity of human life,” said the main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in a statement.
”The government, through use of its security agents, has become an instigator of violence in a bid to instil fear in Zimbabweans,” it added.
The NCA held demonstrations in Harare, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru to protest plans by President Robert Mugabe’s party to amend the Constitution allowing for the simultaneous holding of parliamentary and presidential elections early next year and the expansion of both houses of Parliament.
The NCA is pushing for a new democratic constitution before any fresh elections take place.
The ZCTU said the police violence showed Zimbabwe was slowly degenerating into mayhem.
”The paranoia within government is now ridiculous as there is no need to brutalise unarmed, harmless citizens,” the union said. The ZCTU has warned it plans to hold a strike next month.
Meanwhile, there are growing signs some Zimbabweans may be turning against the police.
Four policemen were beaten up in Harare’s densely populated suburb of Budiriro, apparently as they investigated a robbery, state radio reported on Friday.
In a separate report from eastern Zimbabwe, five police officers were badly beaten by villagers in the Rusape area, the Manica Post newspaper said. The police had been reportedly trying to clamp down on the illegal brewing of beer. — Sapa-dpa