On the eve of July 31, ZPP received more and more cases of human rights violations. State
security agents deployed throughout the country unleashed terror on citizens going about
their business. The police and the army blocked people from entering virtually all city and
town centres in the country. Rural service centres were not spared, and soldiers were more
present in rural areas than in urban areas.
On the same day, ZPP reported that Tongai Mnangagwa was training Zanu PF youths ‘for
retaliation' against 31July protesters in Harare South, where he is a Member of Parliament.
The link to the video is available here
ZPP received more disturbing reports, images and videos of systematic harassment,
assaults and abductions throughout the day in what was a clear attempt to stop people from
exercising their right to protest. The links to some of the images and videos are on the
sidebar to the left.
Soldier whips
civilians near
Harare CBD,
July 30, 2020
On the night of July 30, police in plain clothes besieged the home of journalist Mduduzi
Mathuthu and arrested together three nephews of Mathuthu. The other nephew, was seized
from police custody by military intelligence and dumped severely tortured on August 2 after
the High Court had ordered the state security agents to release him. In this disturbing video,
which can be viewed here, Muchechiwa shows the injuries inflicted on him by his assailants,
who to this day, are yet to account for their actions.
Several other activists were abducted on the night of July 30, and by the morning of July
31, with the State security agents out in full force, it was clear the government was prepared
to do anything to stop any action.
Police officers and soldiers, armed with guns, sjamboks and all forms of ammunition, were
stationed at major streets corners, intersections and junctions in rural and urban Zimbabwe.
Police
brutalise
motorists,
July 30, 2020
People being
bundled into
an army
truck to God
knows where
The State was, once again, prepared to devour its own children for simply asking for food
and an end to corruption.
Armed soldiers patrol a street in Harare, Friday, July, 31, 2020. Pic by Shepherd Tozvireva, The Standard
IMAGES: SOLDIERS PATROLLING THE STREETS OF GWERU, JULY 30, 2020
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