Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum: Report on violence against peaceful protestors in Harare Said Chimwanda: “I wrote to them saying we were unable to give them protection because we were afraid that they would clash with the War Veterans, but this morning we saw them running around with a court order.” Chimwanda said the NCA march also coincided with their operation where they were searching for dangerous weapons in vehicles that were coming into town so they did not have enough officers to offer protection during the NCA march. No 9 – Reports from BBC Reporters Running street battles broke out as the demonstrators were attacked by government supporters armed with clubs and stones. Police at first stood back, but then intervened with tear gas, as helicopters flew overhead. Correspondents say the attackers – many of them veterans from the war of independence – singled out white people. The demonstrators included elderly couples and families who walked peacefully through the capital until they were set upon. The BBC’s correspondent in Harare, Grant Ferrett, says that for the next thirty minutes, government supporters swaggered through the streets beating people, apparently at random. Protester Jenny Yon said: “I stood with a poster which said ‘no violence’, and they beat me.” Eyewitnesses, including a BBC correspondent, say white protesters were singled out for attack by people thought to be former fighters in the independence war. The Harare demonstration was called to protest against the takeover of more than 700 white-owned farms by black war veterans. A British journalist was among those injured. Andrew Meldrum of the Guardian was struck on the head by a missile, which he described as a “very large rock”. He said: “I was just writing something in my notebook when I felt this massive thud. “The original protest had been very joyful and peaceful but then the so-called bush war veterans came along. I saw people being beaten with steel bars, pickaxe handles and rocks. One man was on the floor unconscious and having convulsions.” Mr Meldrum said he believed that President Mugabe’s men were behind the attack. “They were targeting white people who weren’t even involved in the protest, even people coming out of the bank,” he said. A BBC reporter Jane Standley who was present at the demonstration filed this report: The march was peaceful, but seriously provocative in the eyes of the government. Traffic in downtown Harare was brought to a standstill as thousands of demonstrators walked, danced and ran through the streets, chanting anti-government slogans. This would have been unheard of only a few months ago in Zimbabwe, where opposition is rarely tolerated. Several times, a confrontation with the riot police was avoided as the demonstrators chanted: “Peace, peace, peace.” But when the riot police moved in, the violence was extremely ugly. As the tear gas was fired and the demonstrators ran away, many were caught and beaten by men in plain clothes. Some are believed to have been from the security forces; others were veterans of the war of independence who were clearly being used as a government force. I saw a middle-aged white woman severely beaten with a club; all the blows were targeted around her head. Her husband suffered the same fate, as he tried to help her. They had been crossing the road after going to the bank when a man in plain clothes set upon them. They were clearly targeted. I was told by a black Zimbabwean woman to get off the streets or I would be beaten, too. She said she could do nothing to help me. The race card has been played increasingly by the Zimbabwean government in recent months. President Robert Mugabe has blamed white Zimbabweans for his humiliating defeat in a constitutional referendum in February. Since then, more than 600 white-owned commercial farms have been targeted by squatters from the Veterans’ Association, who, like many black Zimbabweans, are hungry for land. But many people here – black and white – think this is not the way to change things. - 18 -