Habakkuk Trust last week visited some of the victims of police brutality who narrated their traumatic experiences.
Residents in Burombo flats explained that police ambushed their hostels in the evening around 6pm and ordered everyone to move out of their house. Due to fear, the residents didn’t move out and the police started throwing teargases through windows and on corridors which forced people to move out and gather at an open space.
Everyone, from as young as 10 years and the elderly, were made to lie down on their stomachs and were beaten with baton sticks. Residents said they do not know why they were beaten as some of them never even participated in the protests.
The residents who spoke to Habakkuk Trust explained that the police forced them to sing the National Anthem in Shona and when they could not they were beaten again. Some were made to roll on the floor.
Some of them sustained injuries, some heavily affected by the teargas and are in need of medical assistance. Two people, a child and a old woman, have reportedly died as a result of inhaling teargas.
Meanwhile some residents have also complained that the police are indiscriminately arresting children accusing them of being part of the gang that looted at Mzilikazi Supermarket.
Post published in: Featured