Humiliating and degrading treatment was reported by several informants, which accords with both the newspaper reports of “manhandling” and the reports of the victims seen by ZHFNF (see next section). It was rainy season. Men were told to sit on wet ground if they were wearing new clothes from the shops. Even innocent people, or men that were drinking beer. There were two brothers. They were told to fight each other then and there (by soldiers). The other one said “No, I can’t fight him, he’s my brother”. They beat him with a baton stick (three soldiers and three police). They moved together (the soldiers and police). Even if you looked at them they would say, “Why are you looking at us?” And others they were made to lie down or carry stones. Others were ….. Even if you are putting on a suit they would make you to sleep in the drain, because there is dirty water. Many people … aye ….. it was terrible. We did have blankets. But the place was filthy. They were all with lice. All those lice…. It was really bad. From that I’m having problems with my body. I have to scratch, and when I scratch all the time. I bathe everyday, but I always scratch, and when I scratch I get these, these scabs come out. It’s itching all the time (shows me his skin). Court hearings Again evidence about court proceedings are also important, and here two persons had interesting observations about the justice process. But I, my, I’ve got my Auntie. Uh, she's now in jail. From Budiriro, Budiriro. She’s eh, she’s abnormal (points to her head), but they just took her. They said, the police said, “you have taken something?” She just said yes (imitating someone mentally not quite right). But she’s not normal. And they take her to the jail. And she’s now in jail....She is ill. Very, very ill...She had no lawyer. And Thursday morning we were given some tea, with a piece of bread. And that is the day which I was taken to court, with some other guys from this area...to Rotten Row Court, on Thursday. And when we got there we were charged with allegations. The Magistrate just read allegations said that “You are being charged of destroying shops and stores worth so much amount”. He just told us as we were around 21, we were taken to court when we were 21, we had about 4 women, old ladies. The rest were men. We were all from this section, Mabvuku and Tafara. So we were being charged of, we were being alleged of throwing stones and destroying stores and shops. And said on charge was, The value of everything which was destroyed was around $40 000, it was worth $40 000 if I’m not mistaken. And they said, no it was worth S60 000. They said $40 000 was recovered, cause $40 000 was discovered. So we were not given any option. We were not given any mitigation weren’t given any mitigation. We were just told that “You are remanded in custody until to the 19th of February”. And then we were taken to remand holding cells. Overview Clearly all these interviews can only be taken as indicative and corroborative, and we make no claims that this is definitive research. Such research was beyond the capacity of the Human Rights Forum, and should be the province of a full scale commission of inquiry. However, the data does indicate that there were human rights violations on a far greater scale than is suggested by either the press reports or the ZRP report. It is also worth commenting that most people refused to be interviewed for fear of one kind or another, and this is perhaps one of the most distressing consequences of the Food Riots: that the actions of the ZRP and the ZNA may have contributed to a climate of fear or reprisals.