MASVINGO-Riot police moved in heavily to crash a planned Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) protest today, arresting a trade union leader and several other activists.
Heeding national calls for a collective job stay-away call today, the squashed protests were against the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono’s deliberate squeeze.
After limiting the cash withdrawal limits at banks for months, with depositors getting a meager $500 000, which is insufficient to buy a loaf of bread, the central bank announced that starting tomorrow, Zimbabweans would now be able to access $100 million cash per week from banks, with companies getting half the amount in the same period.
As early as eight in the morning, when about 160 ZCTU members had gathered at the regional office to get into the streets, gun-totting riot police officers, with dogs, baton sticks and teargas canisters, started beating everyone, arresting Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou, his regional chairperson Munyaradzi Chauke, ZCTU regional officer Elliot Muposhi and an activist, George Makamure.
The demonstrators, who intended to march around the city centre and the town’s major banks, petitioned the RBZ over the limits in cash withdrawals.
“We are saying the RBZ should not have a fixed limit on the daily cash withdrawal limits from banks. Although they arrested some of us, we are still determined to get into the streets before day-end,” said a senior ZCTU member who requested anonymity for fear of victimization.
But some riot police officers, with canine dogs, were still manning the ZCTU offices in town by mid-day.
Provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Phibion Nyambo, refused to comment on the arrests, referring all questions to national police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, who did not respond to faxed questions by the time of publishing.
The ZCTU had not yet secured Zhou, Chauke, Makamure and Muposhi’s release by mid-day.
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