Thousands march in Zimbabwe to demand Mugabe step down after 37 years in power

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Kevin Sieff November 18 at 7:36 AM

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Thousands of Zimbabweans marched to the statehouse Saturday, demanding that President Robert Mugabe step down after 37 years as head of state.

The rally had the air of collective catharsis. It was the first time in decades that Zimbabweans had been able to protest Mugabe without fear of arrest, coming days after the 93-year-old leader was detained by the military.

Although the future of Zimbabwe’s government remains in question, with Mugabe still involved in negotiations with the military and South African intermediaries, Saturday’s demonstration sent a clear signal that opposition to Mugabe is massive and diverse.

It appeared to be the largest public demonstration in Zimbabwe since the country declared independence from white-minority rule in 1980, with the crowd ballooning throughout the day. The gathering included both black and white Zimbabweans, carrying signs and flags and honking car horns.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/thousands-march-in-zimbabwe-to-demand-mugabe-step-down-after-37-years-in-power/2017/11/18/aa6f85ca-cbc2-11e7-b506-8a10ed11ecf5_story.html

[7962]

1. Mugabe has to resign or be taken out. He's destroyed that country.

Just another money-grabbing racist dictator

[Vogon_Glory]

2. The people of Zimbabwe express their true feelings.Good riddance to Mugabe!

The people of Zimbabwe express their true feelings! Goodbye and good riddance to the old dictator!

One of my strongest beliefs is that the role of government is to promote the general prosperity, not of oligarchs, not of kleptocrats, not of one race, not of one ruling faction—EVERYONE. Robert Mugabe failed in this and failed his country miserably. Sandalistas and self-appointed keepers of the flame may prattle about British colonialism, but Mugabe had 37 years to make Zimbabwe a prosperous, multi-ethnic State. Instead, he and his followers ran his country’s economy into the ground to maintain power and to enrich his friends and allies.

I hoped Zimbabwe would have a better future when white rule ended. I hoped that post-Rhodesian Zimbabwe would be a beacon of prosperity and democracy in a continent of states cursed with poverty and endemic corruption. I was disappointed.

[marble falls]

3. Step down, Robert Mugabe! Let another kleptocrat have a chance....

Maybe I'm wrong but thirty seven years and I just have to believe that the talent needed to lift the Zimbabwean out of the looted pest hole they've been trapped in are dead, beaten into abject cynicism, jailed or in exile.

[christx30]

4. Now we just need to get them

to release Martha O'Donovan. She was arrested and is facing up to 20 years in prison for a tweet against Mugabe.
Where is Trump on this?