Nine hurt as Zimbabwe police open fire on football fans
Nine people have been seriously hurt in Zimbabwe’s second largest city after police opened fire to disperse rowdy fans after a football match.
The trouble started after players from the losing side, the Highlanders, surrounded the referee and accused him of not allowing enough injury time.
The final score was 2-1 to the Dynamos team from Harare.
Witnesses said police opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas.
One fan was shot in the head and another hit in the groin during yesterday’s unrest at the Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, police spokesman Smile Dube said.
A police station at Barbourfields was attacked, five vehicles were extensively damaged and seven policemen injured in clashes that lasted for several hours, he said.
Bulawayo was calm today, but a civil rights group accused the police of being heavy handed.
Zimbabwe has been gripped by two years of political and economic turmoil. The increasingly unpopular government has cracked down on the opposition, the independent media and the judiciary, and police have done little to enforce the rule of law.
‘‘The riot was a reflection of the situation we are in,’’ said Professor Lovemore Madhuku, who heads a coalition of churches, trades unions and human rights groups that is demanding sweeping constitutional reforms.
‘‘It is a manifestation of the political tension - the police just chase ordinary people without any fear.’’
Meanwhile, dissent over Zimbabwe’s declining economy spread to the nation’s hospitals as doctors went on strike, demanding pay raises to offset 124% inflation.
Over the weekend, President Robert Mugabe accused former colonial power Britain of sabotaging the country’s medical system by recruiting its doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
‘‘Britain is coming at dead of night to steal,’’ he told a conference of nurses.
Only senior doctors were at work at Harare’s major government hospitals today. A health department spokesman said the situation was under control because most patients were aware of the strike and stayed home.
‘‘Of course there are bound to be losses of life and more suffering on the part of patients but we need to look at where we are coming from and where we are going to survive,’’ said Howard Mutsango, president of the Hospital Doctors’ Association.
Deputy Health minister David Parirenyatwa appealed for doctors to return immediately to work.
