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Streets in Zimbabwe Capital Empty Following Deadly Protests Erupt

by VOA News

   Life has come to a standstill in the Zimbabwean capital after violent
   protests over the government's announcement of a massive hike in fuel
   prices turned deadly.

   The streets of Harare were virtually empty Tuesday, with many
   businesses, banks and schools closed, after a call for a three-day
   strike by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in response to an
   intensifying economic crisis.

   Several people were killed when police in Harare and Bulawayo,
   Zimbabwe's second-largest city, fired live ammunition at protesters,
   who threw rocks, burned tires and blocked streets. Authorities have not
   released an official death toll, but the Zimbabwe Association of
   Doctors for Human Rights tells the Associated Press that five people
   were killed in Monday's unrest.

   At least 200 people were arrested.

   Zimbabweans are angry over President Emmerson Mnangagwa's announcement
   last Saturday of a 150 percent rise in fuel prices.

   Mnangagwa on Monday defended the decision at the start of a five-nation
   tour.

   "Zimbabwe is going through both political and economic reforms and
   these do not come easily," he told reporters in Moscow. "It will take
   time for things to settle and results to be shown."

   He said the fuel price hike was necessary because local fuel was the
   cheapest in the region.

   Mnangagwa, who took power after longtime leader Robert Mugabe was
   forced to resign in November 2017, is trying to win back foreign
   investors sidelined under Mugabe.

   The protests are the biggest unrest in Zimbabwe since deadly
   post-election riots last August.