Twenty-seven members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) appeared in a Zimbabwe court facing public violence charges on Saturday after six people were killed in post-election protests that were met by a military crackdown.
ADVERTISEMENTTwenty-seven members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) appeared in a Zimbabwe court facing public violence charges on Saturday after six people were killed in post-election protests that were met by a military crackdown.
Soldiers and tanks rolled into the capital Harare on Wednesday after protests erupted against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ruling ZANU-PF party's landslide win in the House of Assembly vote.
The army's clampdown on civilians and the opposition's allegations that the vote was rigged revealed the deep fissures in Zimbabwean society that developed during the four-decade rule of Robert Mugabe, when the security forces became a byword for heavy-handedness.
The 27 MDC members were arrested on Thursday at the party's headquarters. Their lawyers said the MDC members were innocent and were delivering election results from provinces when arrested.
Prosecutors said the accused were positively identified by police and that witnesses would testify against them.
The MDC members were not formally charged by Harare Magistrate Francis Vhitorini and will be held in custody in prison until they return to court on Monday.
If found guilty, they face up to 10 years in jail.
Water cannon and more than a dozen anti-riot police were stationed outside the perimeter of the court house while others remained camped outside the MDC headquarters.