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afrol News, 17 June - The leader of the Zimbabwean opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, protests the "ongoing brutalisation of defenceless citizens by the police" and the government party agents. He warns that these people later will have to "account for their actions." In a statement by Tsvangirai, the President of the Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition leader laments the repeated political violence in the country. Over the past week, Zimbabwe had "witnessed a sustained campaign of unprovoked police brutality on innocent and defenceless citizens through out the country," the MDC leader complains. Tsvangirai writes: "Reported acts of police brutality and state hooliganism include the siege of rural homes in Buhera North, the arrest of 170 MDC activists in Buhera South and the widespread barbaric disruptions of MDC meetings and more recently, the arrest and torture of over 100 MDC youths and officials who had lawfully gathered to commemorate youth day at our Harare provincial offices over the weekend, in accordance with written police directives." These police actions "or rather the actions of ZANU-PF [government party] militia, disguised as police action" did not come anywhere near legitimate law enforcement or lawful maintenance of public order, the MDC leader says. "They are a pre-emptive strike whose sole objective is to instil fear in a cheated and restive population with the false hope that such action will avert a people oriented response to the regime’s theft of elections." He however promised there would be resistance to these actions. "Let the point be made and made strongly that this illegitimate regime is misleading itself if it assumes that its actions will give birth to a cowed population," Tsvangirai warned. - Starvation in the rural areas and mass poverty in urban areas for which the regime is responsible, will no doubt act as a catalyst for a firm and comprehensive mass response by the people of this country who have been short changed by the regime, he added. "Just as the regime is determined to repress lawful public opinion and public action, the people are resolved to reclaim their power." Meanwhile, the MDC was determined to carry out its "legitimate and lawful obligation of defending the people," he said. The party was aware of the moves by President Mugabe's regime to declare the MDC an unlawful organisation and arrest its leadership as a way of averting the natural consequences of the rigged election. "Should that happen, history will have repeated itself with startling accuracy and such an unfortunate event will have long term repercussions for the nation," he warned. - Finally, the police and other state institutions being abused by this illegitimate government must realise that a day does come to pass when all who have abused their power and responsibilities will be asked by the people to account for their actions, Tsvangirai added.
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