Anti-Mugabe protests resumes

Zimbabwe's pro-democracy activists have resumed protests calling for the resignation of President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF administration for failing to remedy the country's political and economic crisis.

The protesters dubbed Occupy Africa Unity Square on Monday staged a lunchtime protest in central Harare where activists led by journalist and human rights campaigner Itai Dzamara blew whistles and distributed fliers calling for significant political reforms and improvement in social service delivery.

Dzamara told Radio VOP that the protests will be spread across the country and will be conducted in different formats.

"We are still pressing for our demands headlined by the demand for this failed regime to admit failure and step down and pave way for an all stakeholders engagement that should craft the way forward for the nation," said Dzamara, who has been instrumental in organising the anti-government protests and who of late has been meeting representatives of some civil society organisations such as Women of Zimbabwe Arise and other political party leaders such as MDC leader Welshman Ncube to mobilise support for the demonstrations.

"We are going to be doing this on a daily basis and spread the form to go beyond whistling and distributing fliers. We are going to be spreading to Bulawayo and other parts of the country such as Mutare," Dzamara added.

Dzamara and his Occupy Africa Unity Square team, who accuse Mugabe of ruining the southern African country have since last year been staging peaceful demonstrations inside Africa Unity Square, a central point for several historical protests organised by pro-democracy activists.

The police have responded to the protests with brute force and ruthlessly assaulted the protesters while at one time some ZANU-PF supporters abducted the peaceful demonstrators.

According to the organisers, the anti-government protests are a peaceful civil disobedience programme shaped along the non-violent protests that toppled some leaders in North Africa in recent years calling for the resignation of Mugabe, the southern African country's long time ruler.

The occupation of Africa Unity Square, a park located close to Parliament building and which has been the scene of organised anti-government protests came after the protesters delivered a petition to Mugabe's office last year calling on the nonagenarian leader, whom they accuse of mismanaging the southern African country to step down from power.

The protesters who have christened Africa Unity Square as their "symbolic base of the people's struggle" want Mugabe and his administration to step down and pave way for dialogue that should result in an interim administration of the country's affairs before the holding of fresh elections.

The MDC-T political party led by the southern African country's former Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the MDC Renewal party have also announced plans to roll out anti-government protests against President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party's rule.