JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop a brutal crackdown on opponents as the soldiers and police moved door-to-door in neighbourhoods in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo brutalising people suspected to have taken part in protests against fuel hikes on Monday.

The EFF said Mnangagwa should return the soldiers to the barracks. At least eight people have been shot dead in the crackdown, with 30 others treated for gunshot wounds, according to the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights.

“The EFF extends its solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, who have taken to the streets to protest against the increase in fuel prices. We call on the government of Zimbabwe to respond to these demonstrations with restraint,” EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement.

He said his party, which is led by Julius Malema, “particularly condemns the unleashing of the military on citizens who are exercising their rights to protest.”

“A democratic government knows too well that militaries are not entities used to respond to protesting, armless and defenceless citizens. To unleash the military is to treat citizens as enemies of the state, who must be met with excessive violence, force and death… Militaries should never ever be used against protesters and civil defiance demonstrations,” Ndlozi added.

It is the second time in six months that Mnangagwa has deployed the military on the streets. In August, in early signs of dispute over his controversial re-election, soldiers fired on protesters killing six people and wounding 34 others.

Ndlozi said Mnangagwa had failed to distinguish himself from former President Robert Mugabe, whom he toppled in a military coup in November 2017.

“The progressive international community celebrated the fall of Mugabe, with the hope that the era of human rights abuses associated with his reign in Zimbabwe will come to an end. President Mnangagwa is therefore consistent with the Mugabe administration in violation of the citizens’ right to protest and civil disobedience,” the EFF spokesman added.

Mnangagwa embarked on a five-nation trip on Sunday, and was in Russia on Monday and Tuesday ahead of further stops in Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. He has so far ignored calls to return home to deal with the developing crisis.