Demostrations In Zimbabwe Will Be Crushed: Mnangagwa

Mnangagwa was speaking at an army function to honour retiring officers in Harare. He said that Zimbabwe police are waiting to act on any reports of violence and ‘crush’ it.

“Those who may want to emulate what happened in Egypt and Tunisia will regret. Everybody is warned to keep peace in the country,” he said. “The Police are told that wherever violence rears its ugly head it should be crushed.”

“There are some ill informed citizens who think that officers can not be politicians, the military produces good politicians.We need more and more of them to be involved,” he said.

Since the ouster of Tunisian president, Ben Ali demonstrators in Egypt have demanded the ouster of their long ruling President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak despite protesters demonstrating for almost two weeks has refused to let go, instead he has said he will leave power in September. Ordinary Egyptians have continued to demonstrate.

A final push organised by then opposition leader, Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai about five years ago to remove President Robert Mugabe from power failed to materialise after Mugabe used police and the army to prevent demonstrations.