The horrors Zimbabwe doesn’t want the world to see: Hundreds are beaten and killed in protest crackdown by Mugabe’s successors that has been hidden behind a news blackout
- Estimates say at least 200 are dead while hospital staff said the morgue is ‘full’
- Children as young as ten have been injured in the state backed violence
- Protests began after a Government fuel price hike by more than 200 per cent
- The new president, Robert Mugabe’s right hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa has caused outrage after promising a new way for Zimbabwe and not delivering
Hundreds of Zimbabweans have been beaten, detained or killed in recent days as the Government cracks down on protesters speaking out against the regime.
Violence has erupted in the country after a huge fuel price hike which saw the cost increase by more than 200 per cent to $3.31 (£2.57) per litre.
Children as young as ten are reported to have been injured by police and soldiers after people took to the streets to vent their anger.
In a bid to hide the state sanctioned violence the internet is being shut down and foreign journalists are being forced out of the country, The Sunday Times reports.
Family members of a 22-year-old footballer killed in Zimbabwe cry at his funeral as violence rocks the country which hoped for change with its new president
A victim of police and army brutality during the fuel price hike protests shows the injuries he suffered on his back, at a local clinic in Harare
Medics try to help an injured man who was attacked by a group of uniformed soldiers
Hundreds of people have been seen by the paper in safe houses, hospitals and courts after being attacked and having dogs set on them, while a diplomat said there had been reports of ‘200 deaths’.
The current President Emmerson Mnangagwa is heading to Davos in Switzerland this weekend for an international summit as he seeks investment in his bankrupt nation.
He had promised a better Zimbabwe after seizing power from dictator Robert Mugabe but witnesses to the latest violence say it is more of the same for the nation’s people.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the President is ‘using murder of unarmed civilians as a tool to retain power’ in the country.
A medic in the capital Harare, at the city’s biggest hospital, said the morgue was ‘full’.
Football teammates of Kelvin Tinashe Choto. His body was dumped at a police station after he was shot in the head
A victim of police and army brutality during the fuel price hike protests which are spreading across Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum reported 844 human rights violations while others in the country say people have been detained and refused bail.
The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights said they have attended to 172 people, 68 of whom have been treated for gunshot wounds.
Other injuries include dog bites from people in police custody and injuries from beating with sticks and sjamboks which are a type of leather whip.
Among those arrested is prominent pastor and activist Evan Mawarire. He faces 20 years after being accused of inciting the protests which the Government has liked to ‘terrorism’.
Outrage has spread across the nation of the killing of 22-year-old Kelvin Tinashe Choto from Chitungwiza.
He was shot in the head before his beaten and battered body was dumped on the counter of a police station by furious protesters.
Scrap metal collectors salvages sellable parts from a car shell burnt during the three days protests in Emakhandeni township, in Bulawayo
Diplomats attempted to intervene and seek answers from the government but were banned from asking questions after a ‘command briefing’ from Cain Mathema.
The nation had hoped for change after the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule after he was replaced by his right hand man in November 2017.
However, the new regime has not lived up to hopes.
The leader for the Movement for Democratic Change, Nelson Chamisa said: ‘This is worse than Mugabe. These are old wolves in new clothing, using the same methods of human rights abuses and internal displacement. They are telling the world they are open for business when they are selling a dummy.’
Pastor and activist Evan Mawarire arrives at the magistrates courts in Harare, Zimbabwe