SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
10 November 2008
The city of Bulawayo was engulfed in tension over the weekend, following bloody clashes between riot police and people queuing to try to access money from their banks.
Scores were left injured on Saturday when heavily armed riot police ran pitched battles with anxious customers who were losing patience after failing to access their money from the city banks.
With tensions running high, things boiled over when the banks called police to control the crowds. A witness to the chaos wrote to us saying the police used baton sticks to try to control the crowds and this inflamed the situation. Outside the CFX Bank, irritated customers retaliated and pounced on a lonely policeman who was overpowered by the angry mob.
'The policeman was left in a daze after the clients at a local bank vented their anger on him in revenge. He was left bleeding profusely after he was attacked,' our source said.
Other reports said that on Friday some banks had enlisted the services of soldiers to keep the peace in the queues. The soldiers used this to jump queues and access the cash for themselves, beating up people in the process. 'Managers blamed the Central bank for its limited allocation of money to the banks. While the Reserve Bank has increased the cash withdrawal limits to Z$500 000 from $50 000, the money is still not enough as people spend the nights sleeping outside the banks.'
In Harare, the military police on Saturday battled fellow soldiers who were creating problems in bank queues. Reports say baton-wielding military police beat soldiers in uniform. At Coal House in central Harare, where two building societies are located opposite each other, fights erupted as members of the public cheered.
It's alleged that a number of soldiers were bundled into military vehicles and taken to barracks where they were expected to be detained.
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Just maybe there is hope. When you knock people down, kick them and beat them and starve them long enough, and if they don't die, they will rise fighting mad. Now the military and police are fighting each other. I bet the insurgency is just licking its chops. Sometimes you have to burn a house down to the foundation to rebuild it. I think that time has arrived in Zimbabwe.
And so it begins..............
Riot police and MP's attacking soldiers for jumping line at banks. It would appear that even soldiers now are nervous about being able to access their savings. When was the last time soldiers were paid? How long will ZANU-PF/Mugabe be able to beat their own enforcers before they turn and bite the hand that feeds them?
Soldiers attacking soldiers......... that's a first....... The collapse of Zimbabwe is drawing near, ZANU-PF/Mugabe cannot continue to rely on the support of the armed forces if they cannot even control them!
Eventually, soldiers are going to desert… [Read Full Text]