It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we write this joint statement to all the victims of police brutality and unlawful arrests by law enforcement agents following our peaceful demonstration that was violently thwarted by members of the ZRP. What we set to carry out on the Friday 26th of August was a peaceful demonstration and handing over of our petition on electoral reforms as NERA to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision. Little did we know that ZRP would react as violently as it did when it fired teargas, sprayed with water canons and brutalised with baton sticks our unarmed members.Sadly though because the cause we are standing up for is a cause that affects even our fellow brothers in the security forces and the very demonstrators they brutalize are their kith and kin.
We apologise and sympathise with all our members who were injured and/or arrested during these skirmishes and we want to assure you that we are with you all the way. So far over 100 youths were either arrested and have since been denied bail or abducted and others are still missing. However we will not be deterred by this police brutality and will continue to push for reforms and exercise our democratic right to demonstrate as enshrined in our nation’s constitution in Section 59. We also want to appeal to the ZRP not to be used as a tool of repression and not to be contemptuous of the High Court that ruled in favor of us exercising the right to demonstrate and petition.
We are also aware that some Police Officers may have orders to shoot and kill the leaders . We are not criminals, you can kill us but you can’t kill or stop the revolution. Let us stand as one nation tolerant of divergent views. We should never allow a difference in opinion to create enmity betweeen us . Lets respect the sanctity of life .
We will be leading from the front once again together with our principals demanding reforms in a peaceful manner this Friday the 2nd of September and we invite every citizen who wants to experience free and fair elections during this lifetime to come and take part and be part of the history making process. We stand united and guided by the laws of the land as prescribed in the constitution of Zimbabwe and encourage the ruling party and security sector to embrace constitutionalism by allowing the citizens to enjoy their rights.
#strongertogether
#togetherstronger
#enoughisenough