News / National
Job Sikhala holds a protest march against Mugabe, arrested
14 Dec 2011 at 08:05hrs | Views
MDC-99 leader Job Sikhala was arrested on Tuesday by Harare police. The day before he had led a small protest march of about 10 people, calling on Zimbabweans to stage Egyptian or Tunisian style revolutions against Robert Mugabe.
The Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings drove long term dictators Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak out of office.
The militant and outspoken former University of Zimbabwe student leader led a group of his party followers in marching to Munhumutapa building (Mugabe's office) waving placards that denounced Mugabe.
Some of the placards described the ageing Mugabe as a tyrant and a dictator. Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us Sikhala and his group marched from the nearby first street to Mugabe's offices without any police interference.
It is believed Sikhala was only arrested after police received a tip-off of about where he was hiding. Muchemwa said police indicated they want to charge him with treason, which carries the death sentence in Zimbabwe.
He was being held at the Harare Central Police station, but was released on Tuesday evening after being made to sign a police 'warned and cautioned' statement.
The MDC-99 has since last week been using social media forums to urge Zimbabweans to demonstrate against the unity government, saying it was being abused by Zanu-PF to gain legitimacy.
The Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings drove long term dictators Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak out of office.
The militant and outspoken former University of Zimbabwe student leader led a group of his party followers in marching to Munhumutapa building (Mugabe's office) waving placards that denounced Mugabe.
It is believed Sikhala was only arrested after police received a tip-off of about where he was hiding. Muchemwa said police indicated they want to charge him with treason, which carries the death sentence in Zimbabwe.
He was being held at the Harare Central Police station, but was released on Tuesday evening after being made to sign a police 'warned and cautioned' statement.
The MDC-99 has since last week been using social media forums to urge Zimbabweans to demonstrate against the unity government, saying it was being abused by Zanu-PF to gain legitimacy.
Source - swradio
