US alarmed as Zimbabwe targets, beats activists

HARARE (AP): The US Embassy in Zimbabwe said Thursday it is “alarmed” by credible reports that security forces are targeting and beating activists and labor leaders after a local doctors’ rights group said it had treated 68 gunshot cases and scores of other cases of assault. The US also urged Zimbabwe’s government to restore access to social media as the country faces its worst unrest since deadly post-election violence in August. Zimbabweans this week heeded a nationwide stay-at-home call after the government dramatically increased fuel prices, making gasoline in the economically shattered country the world’s most expensive.

Hungry residents of the capital, Harare, on Wednesday reported being tear-gassed by police as they ventured out to seek food. “Are we at war?” one resident asked. The city was quiet on Thursday as people stayed home, with schools and many shops closed and soldiers controlling long lines at the few gas stations open. Zimbabwe’s state security minister late Wednesday said more than 600 people have been arrested. Prominent pastor and activist Evan Mawarire was in court in Harare on Thursday, accused of inciting violence online. Police added a charge of subverting a constitutional government, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa while traveling overseas has denounced what he called “wanton violence and cynical destruction” but appeared to side with authorities who blame the opposition for the unrest. He had announced the more than doubling of fuel prices shortly before leaving the country. Zimbabweans had briefly rejoiced when Mnangagwa succeeded longtime leader Robert Mugabe, who was forced out in late 2017, thinking the new president would deliver on his refrain that the country “is open for business.”