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
