HARARE – Armed troops were deployed on the streets of Harare to disperse hundreds of opposition protesters angry about alleged manipulation in Monday’s election.
Smoke rose on the streets resembling a war zone after tyres and vehicles were set on fire.
At least one army tank and several armoured EE-9 vehicles with machine guns were circulating in the streets after the protest was broken off. Shops and businesses closed as people fled from the city centre.
Several people were shot when soldiers opened fire on the protesters, but the death toll could not be immediately established. Pictures posted on Twitter showed six people bleeding out after being shot.
In one street, women ran away shrieking as soldiers approach them and tried to strike them. A line of helmeted riot police streamed down one street as armored vehicles sped by and a military helicopter circles overhead.
As evening arrived, an uneasy silence was settling over the capital with soldiers stationed at intersections.
In the second city of Bulawayo, anti-riot police, supported by water cannons, sealed the offices of the MDC Alliance.
Hundreds of angry opposition supporters had gathered outside the compound of the electoral commission before scattering as the military moved in.
The violence came shortly after Western election observers urged the release of the presidential results as soon as possible and warned that a delay could lead to “volatility.”
The opposition supporters had gathered outside the compound of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and were met by riot police who fired tear gas.
Election observers from the European Union and United States are warning that presidential results should be released as soon as possible to avoid “volatility.”
ZEC says it will advise “sometime tomorrow” when it will begin announcing those results. It has five days from Monday’s vote to release them.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa warned against making “provocative statements”.
“Now is the time for responsibility and above all peace,” Mnangagwa said on Twitter.
The European Union lead observer pointed out that the presidential results were counted first and wondered why they were being announced last.
Meanwhile, MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa is again claiming victory over Mnangagwa and says on Twitter that “no amount of results manipulation will alter your WILL.”
The U.S. observer mission said delays in releasing the result of the presidential vote were causing “suspicions, tensions and volatility.”
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Liberian president and head of the observer mission of the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute warned that “the more the presidential vote is delayed, the more it calls into question the population’s confidence in the election process.”
She said that “the presidential results should be announced as quickly as possible to bring confidence in the elections back to the people.”
Chamisa said the decision by ZEC to start by announcing parliamentary results, in which Zanu PF candidates did well, was a strategy to “buy time and reverse the people’s presidential election victory.”
“The strategy is meant to prepare Zimbabweans mentally to accept fake presidential results. We’ve more votes than ED (Emmerson Dambudzo). We won the popular vote and will defend it,” he tweeted on Wednesday morning.
