Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum: Report on violence against peaceful protestors in Harare The march was scheduled to start from Causeway Post Office at 9.00 am. At about 8.30 a small number of marchers had gathered at the starting point and there were a number of reporters. There was a sizeable body of police present. A member of the NCA presented to the Officer in Charge the High Court order ordering that the march be allowed to proceed. This officer advised that at the road blocks around the city they had confiscated a lot of weapons from ex-combatants but they had not arrested the persons from whom these weapons had been confiscated. When asked why these persons had not been arrested, the officer was alleged to have replied: “You know what politics is like.” 17 Those who had gathered were told by the police that the march had been banned and that they must disperse. The police were asked under which law the demonstration had been banned. The police refused to respond to this question although the police did tell a member of the Media Monitoring Project that the police wanted to stop the march because the war veterans had also applied to demonstrate, and the police feared violence. Another group of marchers tried to come to the starting point of the march down Central Avenue from the Second Street side. They were intercepted by the police. Dr Madhuku tried to get the police to accept the court order that NCA had obtained from a High Court judge ordering that the march should be allowed to proceed. The police refused to accept this. Members of this group then sat down on the road. They were ordered by the police to disperse as they were “forming an illegal gathering” and a contingent of the riot squad came towards them. One of the police officers ordered them to get up and disperse but they refused to do so. A group of about twenty riot police, reinforced by a truckload of uniformed policemen, moved in on the seated demonstrators and arrested journalist Grace Kwinjeh and architect Mick Pearce and three others, dragged them up from the ground and pushed them into a police truck. The persons arrested by the police were entirely passive and offered no physical resistance and had in no way been violent. The police had to lift them up and drag them to the police vehicle. A short time later, led by Mike Auret, a small group of marchers tried to set off from the Causeway Post Office. When the police stopped them they sat down and Mike Auret led them in prayer. Members of this group had told the police that they were marching for peace and that the police should join them in this march. After a few minutes a large group of marchers came from the Second Street into Central Avenue. They had with them the court order ordering that the march was legal and should be allowed to proceed. The organisers addressed the marchers and stressed that the march should proceed peacefully. The main body of marchers had already been marching around the city. The smaller group joined ranks with the larger group. The riot police made no further attempt to stop the march and the marchers proceeded down Second Street towards the city centre. A small contingent of police accompanied the marchers as they moved around the city. 2.2 The march The marchers were carrying various placards and posters. Most of these called for peace, justice, reconciliation and the restoration of the rule of law. There were some posters protesting about the conduct of the war veterans in occupying farms. Some of the marchers wore NCA and MDC tee shirts. As the marchers proceeded around the city, some of the marchers called out to the public for peace; some called out political slogans and used the MDC open hand sign; some may have shouted remarks derogatory of the war veterans. As the march proceeded others joined it. -5-