Seven Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers have been arrested for throwing teargas canisters in a bus carrying passengers at Harare showgrounds area this morning.
This comes after a video circulating on social media captured passengers including some elderly women spontaneously disembarking a yellow bus labelled Rimbi Tours through its windows in escape of canister smoke.
Although the circumstances
that prompted the officers’ brutal actions could not be ascertained at the time of publishing, ZRP National Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the development saying the implicated individuals will face the wrath of the law.
“ZRP can confirm that the officers who were involved in this incident have been apprehended, definitely no one is above the law and we do not condone
such behaviour amongst our officers,” Nyathi said, adding, “we have disciplinary conduct which incurs that if somebody acts outside the mandate of the police services they have to
face the consequences of the law.”
According to Nyathi, the bus
crew was also arrested for
handing a tout the steering
wheel to drive.
“We also arrested the bus crew
because the driver had given
the bus to a conductor or tout
to drive whilst picking passengers, moving up and down as if
they were about to leave,” he said.
ZRP officers have on countless
occasions been exposed over
their brutal conduct.
To this end, police brutality was one of
the main concerns during the
#ZimbabweanLiveMatter social
media demonstration which
sought to bring sanity between
the ordinary citizens and those
in positions of power.
Meanwhile, Nyathi has advised
passengers who were implicated in the incident to approach
the ZRP offices and provide
statements on what took place.
“We are still checking if there
were any injured passengers
and we also encourage people
who were onboard to come forward so that a statement can
be recorded,” he said.
Some members of the ZRP have
in recent times made headlines
for unprofessional behavior
and gross human rights violations.
Last year, two ZRP officers in the
company of a dozen municipal
police stormed 263Chat offices
and threw teargas canisters
after being captured beating up
vendors by the publication’s
photographer.
-263chat
