Zimbabweans have withdrawn from the streets opting instead to stage stay-at-home protests after demonstrations on Monday turned violent, killing several people and leading to the arrests of approximately 200 others.
Streets in Harare were mostly quiet after a day of deadly clashes between demonstrators protesting rising fuel prices and the country’s security forces.
The brief period of peace and quiet in Zimbabwean cities follows a call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions to shut down all offices, schools and hospitals, presumably to avoid the kind of bloodshed that followed the election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa after the ouster of Robert Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR) expressed concern over the military’s involvement in the clashes, saying: “Of concern is the involvment of soldiers in these illegal acts who are actively participating in the cruel and inhuman treatment of residents.”
