DURBAN - Activist group Concerned Zimbabwe Citizens (CZC) is set to picket outside Durban City Hall on Saturday to call for an end to brutality against protesting Zimbabwean citizens and the suspension of internet services.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing widespread protest action since the price of petrol was hiked last week. Police have employed heavy handed tactics against some protestors. Brutal assaults, three deaths and hundreds of arrests have been reported and dozens of protesters have been treated for gunshot wounds.
A statement sent via advocacy group Right2Know on Friday said the Durban picket would start at 11am.
"The picket is to appeal to South Africa, SADC, the AU and the broader international community that Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government immediately stop their attacks on and the killing of the Zimbabwean people who are simply exercising their right to protest against escalating political and economic crisis," said CZC.
The group was also demanding that the government end the shutdown of the internet, "which is a blatant attempt to silence the voices of the Zimbabwean people and to deny them their right to know," said the statement.
"We are also calling on the government of South Africa to take a firm stand against the attacks/killings and internet shutdown and act in support of the Zimbabwean people and to place maximum political pressure on Mnangagwa and his government.