and Order section at Harare Central Police Station, in the case of Harare. For instance, on 22 January 2019 lawyers responded to a case in which 4 juveniles were detained in the cells together with adults. Again, on 24 January 2019 lawyers responded to another call for more juveniles detained and bundled with adults at the CID Law and Order at Harare Central Police Station, who had been arrested on the evening of 23 January 2019. The children were found in possession of items allegedly looted in a shop in Machipisa, Highfields. The three juveniles were found in possession of pencils and clothing items they had picked up after the items were dropped by looters at Machipisa Shopping Centre in Highfields, Harare. Across all detention facilities, detention conditions were far from ideal. Children were sleeping on the floor without blankets, and had no access to food and water. For the periods the children were detained, they had no access to washing facilities. Detention of Children with Adults In almost all cases, children were bundled up with adults and thrown in detention facilities without separation. This was the case in Chitungwiza, Harare and Bulawayo. In Mabvuku in Harare, a 16-year-old child was arrested while running on the streets. Upon arrest, he was taken by the police to Choppies supermarket which had been looted. There, he was put together with adults arrested at the supermarket and was detained together with the adults at Mabvuku Police Station for almost 48 hours. All children who were detained at Harare Central Police Station CID Law and Order section were placed in cells with adults. No separate facilities were reserved for children. Over-detention Notwithstanding stipulations in the law, there were cases in which children were overdetained. Two Epworth juveniles arrested on Monday 14 January 2019 and charged with public violence were released on Friday 18 January 2019 after Harare Magistrate Obedience Matare ruled that they had been detained for more than forty-eight hours. The juveniles aged 14 and 16 respectively were represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. In another case, a grandmother in an interview with Sky News stated that her minor granddaughter was arrested and detained in police cells some days. 45 The girl child had been assaulted on her breasts at the time that she was apprehended by the police. The girl child relayed that she was denied food for three days whilst in custody. Access to Lawyers In some police stations, particularly in Harare, lawyers were denied access to the detainees, who included children. At the CID Law and Order section at Harare Central Police Station, a group of 30 people that was arrested on 22 January 2019 had among them 4 children. Since 3am on 23 January 2019, lawyers were seeking to access the detainees without success. The children were only accessed mid-morning, at which point the lawyers proceeded to take instructions. The children were arrested as part of a group that was picked up by members of the police force at a safe house in Harare while being kept after receiving treatment at a local clinic. The children, along with the adults, had received medical treatment from beatings they had sustained from members of the police force in Dzivarasekwa. The group was later released, and had to appear in court the following day. The release was largely because fresh arrests had been made and room was needed to be created for the new detainees to be kept. In Chitungwiza, the police made it clear they would not assist lawyers to access juveniles arrested and would not assist with information. They informed the lawyers that instead of looking for “perpetrators”, the lawyers should be assisting the police officers in Chitungwiza as they were “victims”. The guardrooms At Makoni Police Station had been set alight during the violence, along with 6 cars and 3 buses in the yard. 45. “Zimbabwe crackdown: Children shackled and caged in security round-up” SkyNews, 26 January 2019, https://news.sky.com/story/zimbabwe-crackdown-children-shackled-and-caged-in-security-round-up-11617977 20 ‘Hear them Cry ’ – An Analysis of State Violence Against Children During the January 2019 Protests