Students clash with police

Students clashed with police in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare on Wednesday during protests against the “erosion” of the rule of law, the recent torture of two journalists and the country’s continued military involvement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Human rights activists and media sources told IRIN the city was tense on Thursday and that more protests could be expected. The sources said the protest came as the students returned to classes after the summer holiday. No serious injuries were reported.

A human rights activist said the students were protesting against a statement made by President Robert Mugabe at the weekend, in which he suggested that four supreme court judges, who wrote to him about the detention and torture of two journalists, should resign.

“While the President rounded on the judges and lashed out at human rights bodies and the media, it was notable that he did not condemn the extra-legal methods used against the journalists nor promise to act against the authors of the alleged state lawlessness, whoever they are,” the ‘Financial Gazette’ said in an editorial on Thursday.

It added: “If the judges refuse to resign, as they probably will since the President cannot sack them, will their rulings and judgements be obeyed at all? Is this not the anarchy which the judges of both the Supreme Court and High Court warned about?”