JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 94 ____________________________________________________________________ representing the whites.148 At least three people, including the wife of one of the accused, were assaulted by members of the crowd at the police station, in the presence of the police. The next day the identification parade continued until mid-morning, when a directive was issued to pick up the accused person’s firearms from their homes. 149 The accused were accordingly bundled into police vehicles to assist the police to recover their firearms. Shortly before 4 pm the accused were taken to court. At first the police declined to allow the lawyers to accompany the accused to court, saying their safety couldn’t be guaranteed, but eventually a landrover was found to escort them there. There was a large and hostile crowd outside the court building and in the courtroom itself. The police seemed incapable of maintaining proper order even in the courtroom: before the proceedings began one reporter was attacked but escaped by jumping over the magistrate’s bench and running out through the magistrate’s entrance, where he was hidden from the crowd by court officials. When the magistrate came in he seemed frightened (understandably in the circumstances) and he remanded the accused until the next day. The next day the police seemed to have better control of the situation. There was still a crowd outside the courthouse but policemen restricted entry into the building and there were many plainclothes officers in attendance. Even so, black lawyers representing the accused came in for abuse from the crowd, and after the hearing a prison officer warned the lawyers to remain in the court building until things were clear, since thugs had been hired to get them. The magistrate refused bail but on appeal bail was granted by Makarau J on 20 August. The accused complied with the bail conditions on 21 August but could not be released until the next day, because of what seems to have been excessive scrupulousness on the part of the Registrar of the High Court in ensuring that the conditions had indeed been met.