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A veteran of the anti-Mugabe protest movement, Pastor Evan Mawarire, pledged to \u201ccontinue with the struggle\u201d after Zimbabwe authorities released him from jail on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe is in turmoil after Mugabe\u2019s successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, decided\u00a0to hike up gas prices\u00a0earlier this month, giving the impoverished Zimbabwe the most expensive gasoline in the world. The move prompted protests across the African country. The government responded with a brutal crackdown, arresting over 1,000 activists, opposition politicians, union leaders, and ordinary citizens. Some 12 people were killed and over 300 injured in the unrest.<\/p>\n
Mawarire was also arrested\u00a0after publicly supporting strikes and protests against Mnangagwa. He faces charges of subversion and incitement to violence, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Following his release on bail, Mawarire rejected the allegations of subverting the administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur attention has never been to overthrow the government,\u201d he told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cAll I\u2019ve asked for is for our country to be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ask me if it is my attention to continue my struggle \u2014 I have no choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The popular pastor also slammed the \u201ctragedy\u201d of the government\u2019s brutal response to protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was locked up with over 300 young men whose limbs were broken after being beaten by soldiers and police,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are 16-year-olds who have been locked up.<\/p>\n
International observers condemned the violence, and\u00a0President\u00a0Mnangagwa pledged an investigationinto\u00a0the crackdown.<\/p>\n
At the same time, however\u00a0Zimbabwe authorities mostly cast blame on\u00a0the opposition and \u201cbogus elements\u201d in allegedly stolen uniforms.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the leader of the opposition MDC party Nelson Chamisa said the crackdown on civilians was \u201can escalation\u201d compared to the violence seen under ousted Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s response \u201cmakes Mugabe look like a baby,\u201d Chamisa said, citing reports of rape and beatings. He also said that he had urged Southern African Development community (SADC) to intervene, but without success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how many women are supposed to be raped before we begin to see the intervention of our regional bodies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, lawyers marched in Harare to protest against \u201cmass trials\u201d of arrested protesters.<\/p>\n
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Source: DW<\/p>\n
A veteran of the anti-Mugabe protest movement, Pastor Evan Mawarire, pledged to \u201ccontinue with the struggle\u201d after Zimbabwe authorities released him from jail on Wednesday. Zimbabwe is in turmoil after Mugabe\u2019s successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, decided\u00a0to hike up gas prices\u00a0earlier this month, giving the impoverished Zimbabwe the most expensive gasoline in the world. The move prompted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n