This archive report was first published on 19 August 2019.
Published on August 19, 2019, by REUTERS.
Anti-government demonstrations in Zimbabwe have been met with a heavy hand from the authorities. The latest example came when police banned a protest planned by the country's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in the city of Bulawayo.
The police cited concerns of 'public disorder' as the reason for the ban, but the MDC has accused the government of repression and mismanagement. The party had called for the protests over the country's worst economic crisis in a decade.
Anger is mounting over triple-digit inflation, rolling power cuts, and shortages of US dollars, fuel, and bread. The demonstrations are seen as a test of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's willingness to tolerate dissent in a country with a long history of repression.
Opponents say Mnangagwa has failed to make good on promises of political and economic reform, despite the ousting of his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, in 2017. In January, more than a dozen people were killed during a crackdown in Harare against fuel demonstrations.
The MDC's leader, Nelson Chamisa, has vowed to continue mobilizing against the government, but has also expressed a desire to avoid 'blood in the streets.'
