Zimbabweans React to Increasing Police Brutality and Violence in the Country

Zimbabweans continue to be on the receiving end of continued violence at the hands of police and security forces. Images and videos have emerged showing the police beating supporters of the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), at a rally being held yesterday outsides the MDC's headquarters in the capital of Harare. Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the opposition party, was expected to address his supporters but was prevented from doing so after police fired teargas on the crowd and starting beating them with their batons.

While the MDC and other opposition parties in Zimbabwe have historically suffered intolerance under the Mugabe-regime, very little has changed since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) last year. In August of this year, police again used violence against MDC supporters who had gathered for a peaceful anti-government protest.

TimesLIVE reports that Chamisa's spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda, commented on the matter saying:

"The police and the army are not big enough to stop Chamisa and the MDC. The struggle of Zimbabwe will go on and hope will not die. We are surprised at the behavior of the police today. We are not spoiling for a fight with them but they are the ones spoiling for a fight with the people of Zimbabwe. Today there was a peaceful, not violent, gathering until the police came and the only violence we saw was from the state."

Many Zimbabwean citizens and leaders have taken to social media to condemn the violence and call out President Mnangagwa's government. They've also pleaded with other African leaders to intervene. Take a look at some of their responses below: