Zimbabwe police use tear gas on protesters calling for free elections
Harare — Zimbabwean riot police in Harare fired tear gas and used water cannon on Wednesday to break an opposition protest calling for fair elections in 2018. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had planned a march against voter registration centres that it said favoured long-ruling President Robert Mugabe. A heavy police presence was on duty from the early morning, and officers moved in to prevent marchers from gathering in the city centre. An AFP correspondent witnessed shopkeepers pulling down shutters and locking doors as tear gas cannisters were fired from passing police trucks. On the street, police wielding batons dispersed protesters and bystanders trying to escape the stinging fumes. "Heavily armed police officers brutally crushed our peaceful demonstration," MDC youth secretary general Lovemore Chinoputsa said in statement. Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, is the Zanu (PF) candidate for the election, despite being 93 years old and in poor heal...
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