The state-citizen conflict became more pronounced when opposition political parties joined the fray by demonstrating for a fairer electoral platform. In particular, there were demonstrations organised and convened by the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA), a coalition of opposition political parties. Police reacted to the demonstrations by using live ammunition, setting police dogs on people and spraying teargas indiscriminately to quell demonstrations . Arbitrary arrests and torture of citizens became widespread, with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) estimating that 600 protest-related arrests were made between June and August 2016. A total of 19 journalists were either assaulted or arrested and detained while conducting their lawful and constitutionally protected responsibility of reporting1. Over 300 cases of torture were recorded by various civil society organisations. Government violated citizens’ rights to personal security; liberty; freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment; and arbitrary arrests and detention. Social media and the independent press captured human rights violations by the police. Despite the availability of irrefutable image and video evidence of torture perpetrated by police, government remained unresponsive to public concerns on police violence against citizens. Government even went further to attempt to clamp down on social media to stifle generation and public sharing of evidence of police brutality. These rights violations culminated in the deprivation of liberty, injuries, physical and economic displacement. The cross-section of national and international organisations unanimously agreed that the observed levels of police brutality were excessive. In a strongly-worded statement on 28 August, calling on the police to respect citizens’ rights, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) condemned police brutality. Similarly the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, the European Union Delegation in Zimbabwe and a Cabinet Minister condemned police brutality, describing it as unacceptable, violating the Constitution, contravening international human rights law, erodes government’s legitimacy.and soiling Zimbabwe’s image2. 1 2 MISA-Zimbabwe, Media Freedom Monitor, May –September 2016 Cited in Newsday 19 August 2016 4