Yesterday, Thursday 22nd March, ten Zimbabweans were arrested for trespassing at the Zimbabwean Embassy in London. The protesters, all members of Zimbabwe's main opposition, The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were refused access to to their ambassador to demand an explanation for the continuing oppression of dissedent voices in the Southern African state.
Instead of meeting with the protesters, the embassy called the police who prompted arrested those involved and threw them in the cells. It is important to understand that by law, an embassy is considered an extension of the nation state it represents, so the fact 10 Zimbabweans were arrested for trespassing on their own soil beggers belief.
Activists believe the move was motivated by a desire to scare away other potential protesters who may be awaiting on asylum claims. They are tender legal footing and obviously do not want to get in trouble with the law as it could be used against them in their efforts to remain in the UK.
The fact the UK is criminalising these protesters is effectively gagging a resistence movement against one of the world's most brutal dictators.
PROTESTS CONTINUE OUTSIDE THE ZIMBABWE EMBASSY ALL THIS WEEK FROM MIDDAY AND THEN EVERY SATURDAY FROM 12 UNTIL THERE ARE FREE ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE. PLEASE COME ALONG WITH NOISE MAKING EQUIPTMENT TO DEMAND AN END TO MUGABE'S RULE.
Embassy located @ 429 Strand London. Nearest Tube: Charing Cross Station. Leave station at exit 8 and turn right and consulate is right in ftont of you.
Activists believe the move was motivated by a desire to scare away other potential protesters who may be awaiting on asylum claims. They are tender legal footing and obviously do not want to get in trouble with the law as it could be used against them in their efforts to remain in the UK.
The fact the UK is criminalising these protesters is effectively gagging a resistence movement against one of the world's most brutal dictators.
PROTESTS CONTINUE OUTSIDE THE ZIMBABWE EMBASSY ALL THIS WEEK FROM MIDDAY AND THEN EVERY SATURDAY FROM 12 UNTIL THERE ARE FREE ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE. PLEASE COME ALONG WITH NOISE MAKING EQUIPTMENT TO DEMAND AN END TO MUGABE'S RULE.
Embassy located @ 429 Strand London. Nearest Tube: Charing Cross Station. Leave station at exit 8 and turn right and consulate is right in ftont of you.
Comments
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MDC seeks to destabilise Zimbabwe
23.03.2007 04:50
The MDC in UK should be asked why their party is engaging in terrorist activities in Zimbabwe and trying to destabilise the electe govt! If they cant win honestly, they shouldnt try to do so usin terror or provocation.
brian
Well, Mugabe didn't win an honest election
23.03.2007 10:05
Reporters Without Frontiers
wananchee
South Africa blames MDC for Zimbabwe crisis
23.03.2007 11:22
SOUTH AFRICA LAY ZIMBABWE CRISIS AT MDC DOOR
By Donwald Pressly
Last updated: 03/22/2007 17:53:36
THE serious conflict in Zimbabwe has arisen because of the perception by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that recent elections in Zimbabwe were not free and fair, said a South African government spokesperson, Themba Maseko.
"I think it is now public record that there were elections in Zimbabwe... at the end of those elections, the MDC were of the view that those elections were not free and fair," Maseko told reporters Tuesday.
"Based on the view of the MDC, we then had a situation in Zimbabwe where THERE WAS SERIOUS CONFLICT ARISING OUT OF THE PREMISE TAKEN BY THE MDC THAT THE ELECTIONS WERE NOT FREE AND FAIR."
IT, HOWEVER, WAS THE POSITION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT THAT THE RECENT ELECTIONS HAD BEEN FREE AND FAIR, HE NOTED.
The answer was in reply to a question from a journalist - at a media briefing after Tuesday's cabinet meeting in Cape Town - as to what the government's analysis of the key problem was in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
"We are of the view (that) of the different parties in Zimbabwe... there is still a need for the parties to say these are our problems as Zimbabweans and this is how we should solve them," he said, calling for dialogue between the Zimbabwean government and opposition parties.
Asked whether the situation in Zimbabwe was not seen as a threat to regional security - even though South Africa had told the United Nations the situation was not a threat to international security - Maseko said there was "no such discussion" in the cabinet.
Asked if the South African government should not take the lead and get Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change to gather for peace talks in South Africa, he said that it was not easy to "drag protagonists" to sit around a table.
South Africa had been successful in other parts of Africa - such as the Democratic Republic of Congo - because the government and opposition both had been willing to sit at such a table.
Asked if he was aware if the South African ambassador to Zimbabwe had tried to talk to parties involved in the conflict in Zimbabwe, he said he was not aware of the envoy's activities in this regard.
In the official cabinet statement, the following mention was made of Zimbabwe: "(The) cabinet, once again, expressed its concerns about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and reaffirmed the government position, as recently stated by the deputy minister of foreign affairs, that only dialogue among the main political and economic protagonists can help bring about a lasting solution to the current political and economic challenges facing Zimbabwe.
"As stated previously, South Africa is ready to provide whatever assistance is required in bringing about a peaceful and lasting solution to the situation in Zimbabwe." - News24
insidejob
They sing a different tune here
23.03.2007 14:19
You may also heard of COSATU
wananchee
Mugabe did win an honest election, but RSF is NOT an honest investigative group
23.03.2007 22:58
Its not so easy to cheat in an election if you are watched by the worlds media or foreign observers. Ad Mugabe has won his elections as fairly as is possible, and more so than the US elections.
The 2002 elections ahd many observers...note its the neocolonials who insist on seeingt vote fraud (ironical coming from US):
'After the polls closed at the end of the March 9-10, 2002 election in Zimbabwe, there were still people in Harare who had not yet voted, so voting was extended for a third day to accommodate them. The MDC's base of support is largely urban and ZANU-PF's rural, thus the extension of the voting period benefited the MDC. Although the election law was bent in favor of the urban vote, President Mugabe won the presidential election by a convincing margin of over 400,000 votes. Predictably, Western leaders cried "foul," outraged that the millions they had poured into the MDC's campaign failed to pay off. While President Bush was saying, "We do not recognize the outcome of the election," the South African Observer Team, which monitored the election, concluded that the "elections should be considered legitimate." Namibia announced that its observers judged the election "watertight, without room for rigging," while Nigerian observers claimed that they had not witnessed anything that would affect the integrity of the vote. Similarly, an observer from the Organization for African Unity characterized the election as "transparent, credible, free and fair." The first-hand reports by observers were simply dismissed out of hand, as U.S. and British officials loudly accused President Mugabe of fraud, motivated by their desire to use the accusation as ammunition on their continuing campaign against Zimbabwe. (31)'
AS for RSF, they are a fraudulent group group who have spent a lot of time and energy demonising Castro and Chavez, the most democratically elected leader in history!
Here is more on RSF:
'The international journalists' organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been accused of receiving money from the US state department and Cuban exile groups and of pursuing a political agenda.
The claims of political bias, published in a report in Washington this week, were denied by the group yesterday.
....
The attack on RSF came in reports published by the Washington-based non-profit organisation the Council on Hemispheric Affairs and the US Newspaper Guild journal. Both were written by journalist Diana Barahona.
She claimed that RSF was failing to follow the non-partisan example of Médecins sans Frontières - Doctors Without Borders - and suggested that it was part of a "neocon crusade against the Castro regime". The reports suggested that RSF had highlighted Cuba rather than countries that were more dangerous for journalists, such as Colombia.
Barahona also claimed RSF was "on the payroll of the US state department" and had received money from the Centre for a Free Cuba, an exile group. The reports suggested that Mr Menard had campaigned to have Cuban government accounts at European banks frozen in the same way as "the bank accounts of terrorists".'
etc
brian
The media and Zimbabwe
24.03.2007 00:07
Then there's Amnesty International, another lackey of the imperialsit running dogs and theri lackeys:
"
The authorities continued to use the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) to harass, intimidate and silence journalists and newspapers viewed as critical of the government. In November parliament amended the AIPPA, making the practice of journalism without accreditation a criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison.
* On 9 January the High Court ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police to vacate the offices of Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News. The police had occupied the newspaper’s offices in December 2003, just hours after a court had ordered that the paper – closed down in September 2003 – be allowed to resume publication. The police initially failed to obey the 9 January court order, and the Daily News was only able to recommence publication on 21 January. On 22 January the Media Information Commission (MIC) and the Minister for Information and Publicity initiated court proceedings to once again prevent the Daily News from publishing. The MIC had consistently refused to register the Daily News, despite a court order compelling it to do so.
On 5 February the Supreme Court ruled that the AIPPA was constitutional. The decision was in response to a constitutional challenge by the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe to sections of the AIPPA. This ruling effectively forced the Daily News to cease publication as it meant that publishers and journalists faced arrest. The Daily News remained unable to publish at the end of the year.
* On 10 January, Iden Wetherall, Vincent Kahiya and Dumisani Muleya, editor, news editor and chief reporter respectively of the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, were arrested and charged with criminal defamation in connection with a story printed in the newspaper on 9 January which alleged that President Mugabe had commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane for personal travel. A fourth journalist, Itai Dzamara, was arrested on 14 January and also charged with criminal defamation. All were released on bail. The case was still pending at the end of the year."
"Amnesty International today demanded an immediate investigation into the killing of Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean activist shot dead by riot police yesterday at a demonstration in Harare."
"The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, has described Zimbabwe's mass evictions as "a catastrophic injustice...carried out with disquieting indifference to human suffering"."
Kofi Annan - ah, another capitalist running dog
wananchee
On those 'mass evictions'
25.03.2007 04:38
'The fuss over Operation Murambatsvina is another propaganda ploy. (4) Western news hasn't ceased mentioning the government's demolition of shantytowns in Zimbabwe last year. But what is always neglected is Operation Garikai, which I've seen with my own eyes. (5) This noble operation is rebuilding brand new homes for all those displaced by Operation Murambatsvina that are of course far better than their previous homes. You can see that construction of the homes has been interrupted by sanctions, but why does no one even talk about it? I've taken video footage of them. Is it ignorance or intentional omission? I tend to believe the latter because when I've presented these facts to so-called progressives they all but physically run from them. We cannot let the enemies of Africa and enemies of all humanity dictate how we see the world or Africa. They've become very sophisticated in how they advance their misinformation so we must become that much more sophisticated in how we get ours. '
'(4) Operation Murambatsvina was the first phase of a program to improve living conditions for the urban poor. In this phase, squalid slum dwellings were torn down.
(5) Operation Garikai is the second phase of that effort, in which new homes are being constructed for the urban poor. The intent is to provide decent housing installed with plumbing to former slum dwellers. It is indicative of the nature of Western reporting that much emphasis was given to Operation Murambatsvina, while Garikai has been almost entirely ignored. Western media thereby managed to deliberately distort the project and portray it as simply a malevolent effort to drive people into homelessness.
'
brian
Ah, GlobalResearch from Canada
25.03.2007 16:31
And, Brian, pardon me for being a bit dim ... but wouldn't it be a good idea to build the new homes before knocking down the old ones, rather than after?
Of course, Kofi Annan, unlike you and GlobalResearch of Canada, doesn't know what he's talking about. Completely out of touch, poor fellow. Hasn't been there with his video camera.
wananchee
Fake Lefts and Atrocity Apologists
26.03.2007 06:36
Harpal Brar-Rabbit