Chamisa vows more demos despite police brutality

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) president Nelson Chamisa says the Monday demonstrations in Bulawayo will go on despite the High Court ban and a violent crackdown on party supporters who took to the Harare streets on Friday.

The main opposition party supporters defied the court order and picketed in the Harare Central Business District.

The police responded by beating them up leaving some of the protesters with serious injuries.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon, Chamisa vowed that the opposition party will continue with its planned protests in Bulawayo on Monday and Gweru, the following day.

“The protests are going on; we have notified the police. We are not a Nicodemus organisation, we are not an underground movement, we are a constitutional organ the party that won elections on July 31,” said Chamisa.

“We do our things in a constitutional manner, that is why we do not play hide and seek. We advised the police in broad daylight but they chose to respond to us at midnight.

Chamisa also condemned the police`s heavy-handedness in dealing with the protesters in Harare.

According to the opposition party, about 80 party members were arrested during the protests, seven assault cases were recorded and 18 cases of abduction were recorded since Tuesday.

“That tells you the magnitude of the challenges that we are facing, particularly when one looks at police brutality,” said Chamisa.

The opposition leader also fired a salvo at the government describing it as worse than Mugabe`s administration.

“What is clear is that it is turning out that the regime in Harare is far worse than the Mugabe regime. One would be persuaded to think that Mugabe is back but this not Mugabe even at his best,” charged Chamisa.

“Mugabe has become a toddler when it comes to the kind of brutality we have seen. This in terms of just the magnitude of abuse and heavy-handedness tells you there is a big problem.”

Quizzed on the way forward following the ban imposed on the demonstrations, Chamisa said the party had “multiple million steps to take”.

“We are very clear in terms of the next course of action, we will continue to mobilise but what you are going to see is a mutation of our strategy because when you are facing a confrontational regime, we must also use tactics that are going to be above them.”