A child watches as Riot Police block the road The police during bail hearings in Chitungwiza admitted that they had arrested primary school children, some as young as 11 years, although these were later released at the police stations.41 In another case, Sky News reported that a number of children were randomly arrested, reporting that a sixteenyear old (16) was grabbed from the house, beaten up and bundled into a police vehicle.42 In one case reported in the media, a 16-year-old girl from Epworth collapsed in court at Rotten Row before Magistrate Francis Mapfumo.43 The teenager was arrested along with 60 others from Epworth. Pre-trial Detention In almost all cases, the police detained children on arrest, without enquiring into the necessity and legality of such detention. Children were detained at police stations in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. There is no known case in which police officers arrested and released the children into the custody of their guardians without detaining them at first. Detention of all children recorded was ended by the courts, serve in a single case in Bulawayo in which the children were released into the custody of their parents, but having spent a night in police cells, and in Chitungwiza where 11 years old were arrested but were then released into the custody of their parents. The ZHRC in its report noted that: “Juveniles were also arrested although they were eventually released into the custody of their parents by the courts. Some were said to have spent more than 48 hours in detention. The police during bail hearing in Chitungwiza admitted that they had arrested primary school children, some as young as 11 years, although they were later released at the police stations. Almost all suspects above the age of 18 were denied bail on the basis of the nature of the offence and that some of the suspects were of no fixed abode.” 44 Children were not only being detained at local police stations, but were being taken to the CID Law 41. Ibid. 42. “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. 43. “16-year-old torture victim collapses in court”, Newsday, 21 January 2019, https://www.newsday.co.zw/2019/01/16-year-old-torture-victim-collapses-in-court/. 44. Monitoring Report in the Aftermath of the 14 January to 16 January 2019 “Stay Away” and Subsequent Disturbances, http://www.zhrc.org.zw/monitoring-report-in-the-aftermath-of-the-14-january-to-16-january-2019-stay-away-and-subsequentdisturbances/. 19 ‘Hear them Cry ’ – An Analysis of State Violence Against Children During the January 2019 Protests