with HIV/AIDS and persons of foreign origin were particularly hard hit by the evictions as documented in the accounts below. While the victims who spoke to Human Rights Watch have unique stories, their accounts share a common thread: all cited a similar process of forced, indiscriminate and often violent displacement at the hands of police and consistent orders to move to the rural areas. In contrast to government claims that people voluntarily destroyed “illegal” houses,91 many of those affected by the evictions informed Human Rights Watch that the police forced them to destroy their own houses often at gun point. One interviewee told Human Rights Watch: When the police came they were forcing people to demolish their homes or they would beat them up. I saw them beating people up and forcing them to demolish the house. They were beating them up with baton sticks. Some of the police were armed and they were threatening people. At some houses they would sit by the house and wait until it was demolished. They announced on loudspeakers that they would be coming on Sunday so I demolished the house before they came.92 Police also destroyed houses and structures without care for the safety of people or their possessions. A number of people reported that they had to risk their lives trying to retrieve their belongings while police demolished their houses.93 Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of people who were beaten by the police and others who witnessed the police beating people who refused to destroy their houses or did not do so quickly enough. To date, no investigations into the brutality and excessive use of force of the police have taken place and those responsible brought to justice. Tapiwa told Human Rights Watch about the brutal methods use by police to evict her from her home, “The police are showing no mercy. They have given us a deadline that we must destroy our houses. They were beating us with baton sticks and their boots if we didn’t destroy our houses quickly enough. It doesn’t matter, women, children, and 91 Ibid. 92 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, June 29, 2005. 93 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, June 29, 2005. 21