Zimbabwe fuel-hike protests turn violent‚ ‘overwhelm police’
Water cannons and teargas proved no deterrent to the angry and emboldened protesters who sent police retreating back to their stations
The usually quiet Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo was turned into a mixture of teargas‚ black smoke from burning tyres and chanting of struggle songs on Monday as residents joined in protests over the latest fuel hike. “Into oyenzayo siyayizonda” — which loosely translates to “we hate what you are doing” — was the battle cry among protesters who took to the streets to express their displeasure at the worsening economic environment in SA’s northern neighbour. The protest was unmistakably directed at president Emmerson Mnangagwa‚ who has been at the helm since November 2017 after his ousting of Robert Mugabe. A fuel hike announced by Mnangagwa on Saturday, January 12 2019‚ a day before he left for Russia‚ was the final straw for most protesters. Fuel prices more than doubled overnight. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)‚ which had for years been relegated to the back bench of politics‚ appeared to have found a new lease of life on Sunday. The union’s president Peter Mutasa calle...
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