that they are over-taxed and should therefore take to the streets. This is an insult to the black people of Zimbabwe," said one ZANU-PF MP who did not want to be named. It was more ironic that the violence was confined to Harare, and that it occurred at the time when the President was making his State of the Nation Address to Parliament. There were repeated calls for an inquiry into police mismanagement of the demonstration, but these were ignored, and the main comments following the violence came from the Commissioner of Police. His comments did little to reassure observers that Government was taking steps to address either the causes or the consequences of the violence. This then was the climate before the Food Riots in January 1998. As can be seen from the above analysis, there were many indications that civil disturbances were likely, but no positive response came from Government. Many civil society groups were urging the Government to take strong positive steps to ensure adherence to the rule of law, and to ensure openness and transparency, but these calls fell on deaf ears. Given the history of events during the year and the violence that erupted when the police prevented people from demonstrating in December, few observers were thus surprised when the Food Riots occurred. 3. The Food Riots — Analysis of Newspaper and Other Reports This section deals with the reports made of the Food Riots at the time. It was compiled from newspapers, magazines and other reports. The pattern of events is described below in the table, showing the outbreak of rioting reported in the press day-by-day over the week. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have issued their own comment on the Food Riots, published in the June edition of Outpost. As a response to the calls by civil society for an in-depth investigation into the Food Riots, the ZRP report is brief in the extreme and considerably less than satisfactory. In the background section of this report, the rises in the prices of food commodities is given pre-eminence, exacerbated, in the view of the ZRP, by consumer activists and “misguided elements”. The report does admit, however, that “... there was no formal announcement from any organisation that there would be any demonstration”. Table 1. Places involved in Food Riots: Reports of incidents MON. 19-198 TUES . 20-198 WE D. 211-98 THU R. 221-98 FRI. 231-98 POS T-W * LOCATION HARARE: Braeside X Budiriro X X X Central business district (CBD) Glen Norah X X X X Glen View X X X Graniteside Highfield X X Kuwadzana X X Mufakose X X Mabvuku/Tafara X Mbare X Southerton X Northern Suburbs X Kambuzuma X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X