Police Commissioner threatens opposition

Augustine Chihuri, national Police Commissioner, on Thursday threatened to crush the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) if they called for mass action to press President Mugabe to resign, the ‘Daily News’ reported. “Let me warn that such (mass) actions will have serious consequences upon them. The police will be out in full force during this period to deal with this sickness of society in a ruthless manner.” Chihuri said.

The Police Commissioner’s threats came weeks after riot police stormed the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) campus and brutally assaulted students demonstrating against the government’s failure to resolve a pay dispute between the university administration and UZ lecturers. A combined army and police force deployed to quell food riots in Harare’s high-density suburbs two months ago, unleashed a reign of terror and left hundreds of residents, including toddlers, injured.
The MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube deplored Chihuri’s statement saying it was unwarranted.

“That’s the kind of statement you would expect from a Zanu PF political commissar not a professional police commissioner. It only demonstrates how partisan our police are,” said Ncube.

He added that a decision had been taken by the MDC last week to defer mass action indefinitely and that such protest was no longer on the party’s agenda.