HARARE - Riot police quashed labour union protests across Zimbabwe on Wednesday, beating and arresting union leaders and dozens of other protesters in a show of force by President Robert Mugabe’s government.Officers equipped with batons and teargas canisters swooped on central Harare, grabbing 15 protesters, including leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), witnesses said. ‘We have been arrested. There are about 15 of us. We are now at Matapi police station,’ ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo told Reuters by telephone, adding that ZCTU Secretary-General Wellington Chibebe had also been arrested.
The ZCTU said the protesters were beaten and that numerous others were picked up while attempting to march in six other towns around the country. It said preliminary reports showed more than 180 people were under arrest, although this number could not be independently verified.
A heavy police presence kept onlookers well away from the Harare march, which the ZCTU said was aimed at highlighting poor wages, high taxes and lack of access to anti-retroviral drugs to fight HIV/AIDS.