Students turn their anger on riot police
There was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday (16 April).
We heard that several activist students called all the students from their lessons to start a boycott of classes until the Presidential results were released.
There was a slow trickle of curious students out of their classes to see what was going on, and at about this point the riot police were called in.
Things turned aggressive and the university was locked down. We believe that the activists have been arrested, but this fact has not yet been confirmed. The whereabouts of the student activists is unknown.
The student situation in Zimbabwe has been very under-reported.
During our months of working on Zimbabwe Election Watch, closely monitoring the electoral conditions prior to the March 29th elections, we were seeing that students were being harrassed, arrested, abducted, intimidated and threatened almost on a weekly basis for months leading up to the elections.
SW Radio Africa has more detail on what happened yesterday, and anger evident in the students’ response is indicative of the tinder-box state of our country.
The demonstration is said to have turned violent when riot police entered the campus and started beating up students indiscriminately. Angry students then turned on one member of the police force who was brandishing a pistol, and stoned him. Several cars and buildings were stoned during the skirmishes.
The students are angry about the poor educational standards in the country and blame Mugabe’s misrule for their plight. They also demanded a release of presidential election results, which have still not been announced 18 days after Zimbabweans voted. Zimbabwe National Students Union President Clever Bere warned Mugabe that students would make the country ‘ungovernable’ if he tried to ‘steal’ the election.
April 17th, 2008 10:10
Hey, this reported on BBC:
“And a coalition of Zimbabwean doctors said its members had seen and treated more than 150 people who had been beaten and tortured since the polls.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7351755.stm
I regret that I wont be able to get to the demo in London, but my thoughts and most importantly prayers are with you all. May it be peaceful and get lots of publicity.
Sokwanele you are all doing a really great job here, showing what great & decent people there are in Zimbabwe, who are just waiting to burst forth when Mugabe goes. Keep up your good work. God bless you all.
April 28th, 2008 14:55
[...] And there was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology: There was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday (16 April). We heard that several activist students called all the students from their lessons to start a boycott of classes until the Presidential results were released. There was a slow trickle of curious students out of their classes to see what was going on, and at about this point the riot police were called in. Things turned aggressive and the university was locked down. We believe that the activists have been arrested, but this fact has not yet been confirmed. The whereabouts of the student activists is unknown. The student situation in Zimbabwe has been very under-reported. [...]
April 28th, 2008 17:39
[...] And there was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology: There was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday (16 April). We heard that several activist students called all the students from their lessons to start a boycott of classes until the Presidential results were released. [...]