News / Local
Bulawayo police deploy water cannons
17 Jan 2021 at 13:32hrs | Views
POLICE in Bulawayo have upped their fight against lockdown violators by deploying water cannons in the central business district to disperse loitering people.
This comes after police said nearly 10 000 people have been arrested countrywide for not wearing face masks and more than 16 000 were arrested for flouting lockdown regulations within a week.
Since January 5, Zimbabwe has reverted back to a hard lockdown as the government tries to curb the rising new infections and deaths during this second wave of the pandemic.
As of yesterday, the country has recorded 666 deaths from the confirmed 26 109 cases since March 2020. Under the current regulations, only essential service workers are allowed free movement while ordinary citizens are expected to remain indoors.
Businesses offering essential services like supermarkets and banks are only allowed to operate from 8am to 3pm. A dusk-till-dawn curfew has also been imposed but this has not deterred some rogue elements from still violating the lockdown regulations.
Since Wednesday, Bulawayo police have been using their crowd control tactics to ensure all lockdown violators vacate the CBD. A convoy of riot trucks will be moving around the city warning the public to return home and not loiter.
If the violators remain on the streets, the water cannons are then moving in to force the people to leave. Residents can be seen fleeing from the high-velocity stream of water being flung by the canons.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Abednico Ncube told the Daily News on Sunday they were simply doing their duty to ensure citizens abide by the lockdown regulations.
"People violate the lockdown just like other cities and as police we are doing our job to make sure that people adhere to the law," he said.
Ncube urged members of the public to take heed of the lockdown call and stay at home if they don't have any essential business to do in the CBD.
This comes after police said nearly 10 000 people have been arrested countrywide for not wearing face masks and more than 16 000 were arrested for flouting lockdown regulations within a week.
Since January 5, Zimbabwe has reverted back to a hard lockdown as the government tries to curb the rising new infections and deaths during this second wave of the pandemic.
As of yesterday, the country has recorded 666 deaths from the confirmed 26 109 cases since March 2020. Under the current regulations, only essential service workers are allowed free movement while ordinary citizens are expected to remain indoors.
Businesses offering essential services like supermarkets and banks are only allowed to operate from 8am to 3pm. A dusk-till-dawn curfew has also been imposed but this has not deterred some rogue elements from still violating the lockdown regulations.
Since Wednesday, Bulawayo police have been using their crowd control tactics to ensure all lockdown violators vacate the CBD. A convoy of riot trucks will be moving around the city warning the public to return home and not loiter.
If the violators remain on the streets, the water cannons are then moving in to force the people to leave. Residents can be seen fleeing from the high-velocity stream of water being flung by the canons.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Abednico Ncube told the Daily News on Sunday they were simply doing their duty to ensure citizens abide by the lockdown regulations.
"People violate the lockdown just like other cities and as police we are doing our job to make sure that people adhere to the law," he said.
Ncube urged members of the public to take heed of the lockdown call and stay at home if they don't have any essential business to do in the CBD.
Source - dailynews
