teargas filtered into their homes, causing untold pain for their children who did not understand what was going on. Mabvuku and Tafara People gathered early in the morning at the main shopping centre in the Mabvuku/Tafara area. A small group of women, around 6 am, began demonstrating against the recent price hikes by turning away a bread truck. Most people were just watching in amusement and the situation was calm, then for some reason things suddenly got out of hand and tensions rose. The demonstration turned violent and riots and looting began. People went into supermarkets, pharmacies, and butcheries taking things from the shelves and refrigerators. At least one doctor’s surgery was broken into and cleaned out of everything. Steel window and door screens and burglar bars were wrenched out of the walls. One bakery was broken into and glass display cases and refrigerators were destroyed. One man was seen with a whole hind quarter of a cow. A Coca-Cola truck driver escaped before the angry residents stoned his truck before looting the soft drinks he was carrying. At Tsokachena, the biggest shopping centre in the area, residents stoned shops and looted mostly essential goods such as mealie-meal, sugar, and cooking oil. They also broke into shops such as Bata Shoe Company, Power Sales and Marowa bottle store. The looters were youths and women, some with babies strapped to their backs. Bread was strewn all over the place as demonstrators chanted anti-white and Government slogans. Police were called in and fired teargas into the crowd and the whole area reportedly “exploded” spontaneously. A police truck was destroyed when it was turned on its side and set on fire at the Tafara Post Office. Twenty people were arrested for looting. Three people, including a girl, whose identification and whereabouts could not be established, were shot and injured as part of the crowd they were in allegedly tried to attack the police. CHITUNGWIZA Residents of the area converged at Makoni Shopping Centre early in the morning and turned away delivery trucks of bread, mealie-meal and other commodities. The crowds turned rowdy and overturned a bread delivery truck belonging to Aroma Bakeries and threw away all the bread. A marketing car and a Lobels truck were also attacked. All of the shops in Makoni and Chikwanha were destroyed as were the shops at the Town Centre, a large shopping complex owned by Old Mutual Pension Fund. People looted groceries, furniture, food, and small electrical goods. Surgeries were also broken into and cleaned out of drugs and equipment. The police couldn’t hold off the rioters and were forced to leave the area. The rioters sang revolutionary songs and chanted slogans against the recent price increases. Tuesday, 20 January 1998 The atmosphere remained tense in most high density suburbs in Harare and Chitungwiza as food riots continued into their second day. Businesses remained closed in the city centre as did most shops around Harare and Chitungwiza’s high density areas. Scattered groups of people hovered around most shopping centres. Police suspected some of the groups were waiting for another opportunity to have a second go at some of the shops looted on Monday night. Others, however, were curious residents who wanted to see the damaged shops but were not being allowed to get closer by the police. Police, deployed at most sites where there was felt to be potential violence, failed to control the huge crowds who were allegedly hurling stones at them. There were reports at some shopping centres that the police helplessly watched people looting after they had run out of teargas canisters they had been firing to disperse crowds. Because of the riots most shops in the high density areas were closed, including the tuck shops, and families were beginning to run out of food. In the shops that remained open, especially in the northern suburbs, there was panic buying as people grabbed whatever they could lay their hands on in anticipation of a longer period of rioting. By mid-morning most of the shops had