Police barricade MDC HQ as party celebrates 20th anniversary – PICTURES

Heavily armed police barricaded the headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), barring vehicles from passing through the area in central Harare.

In a sarcastic statement issued on Saturday, the MDC said “In the name of “Citizen Protection” – Riot Police block all roads leading to #MRTHouse.”

The MDC is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary at Rufaro Stadium today. The party’s Deputy Spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka writing in a column for Nehanda Radio said:

“Twenty years later, the MDC remains standing, notwithstanding the regime’s massive investment in the vain attempt to stop the people’s brave march towards democracy and a positive transformation of their lives.

“It has been a tenacious 20 years, in which the people have been killed, maimed and brutalised. Yet, they have continued to train their eyes on the bigger picture.

“It has been a blood-stained 20-year odyssey of a determined people’s collective aspirations. It has been an unbridled 20-year voyage to fulfill a gallant people’s collective dreams and aspirations. It has been a tenuous 20-year campaign to bring back the dignity of the ordinary Zimbabwean.

“The good news is that the end is nigh for this dictatorship. Soon, and very soon, the gallant sons and daughters of this land will be shedding the warm tears of joy,” Tamborinyoka wrote.

Early this month the MDC postponed its 20th anniversary celebrations, so as to not clash with the funeral of former President Robert Mugabe. 

The party argued this was to ensure the funeral proceedings and events did compete with their own celebrations. “This is in line with our values of ubuntu, solidarity and empathetic leadership.”