Brutalised Zimbabweans cry for help
AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
ZIMBABWEANS, abducted, tortured and brutalised by their own government, have taken to social media to present evidence of their misery to raise the world’s awareness to their plight and to appeal for urgent help.
Many videos and still photographs of ordinary people being brutally attacked by the police and the army have been posted on social media platforms. The hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter has trended on Twitter, together with #Mnangagwa, in reference to the Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa, who has been blamed for unleashing the might of those on those it is supposed to protect.
The Zimbabwean law enforcement agencies have been deployed in the past five days in an effort by the government to squash the anti-government marches called by activists over corruption and economic hardship, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Popular anger has risen over an economic crisis marked by inflation running above 700%, shortages of foreign currency and public hospitals crippled by strikes and a lack of medicine.
Zimbabweans have expressed concern over reports of abductions, arrests and threats targeting those exercising their rights. Opponents have accused Mnangagwa of exploiting a COVID-19 lockdown to stifle dissent, after he imposed an overnight curfew and restricted free movement.
We are tired of living lives without dignity, lives without rights, lives without food, lives without freedom. We are tired of Zimbabweans being abducted and killed like animals while the world turns a blind eye. It is time to take notice. #ZimbabweanLivesMatter ?? pic.twitter.com/7ujcNNqoCf
— Fadzayi Mahere (@advocatemahere) August 3, 2020
