Source: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum)
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) has received reports of politically motivated violence in Epworth where alleged ZANU PF youths were moving in four trucks at around 2300 hours on 10 September assaulting individuals perceived to have participated in protest marches. The perpetrators were moving door to door in some cases forcing entrance into victims’ houses. The Forum’s Public Interest Unit interviewed four of the victims’ two males and two females with varying degrees of injury. The perpetrators used barbed wire, whips and thick sticks indiscriminately assaulting the victims. All the four victims reported their cases at Dombo police station where dockets were opened.
The Forum is deeply concerned by this as this could be a well-orchestrated wave of violence meant to intimidate citizens in a bid to discourage them from exercising their right to demonstrate and petition.
The Forum will continue monitoring the situation and document all human rights violations.
Source: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum)