Staff Reporter|Police in Beitbridge have arrested at least a hundred people in connection with the demonstrations that rocked the town on Friday and more are still being picked up.
Sources within the police force in the town claim that a crack unit of the National Law and Order section of the police has been deployed to investigate the disturbances that shook the entire country with an intended crack-down on suspects.
The sources claim that police have rounded up several Beitbridge residents mostly informal traders using tip offs from other residents, pictures circulated on social media platforms and CCTV evidence from filling stations at the border post.
The police are also reportedly on the hunt for several activists and leaders of opposition parties from as far as Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Gwanda who were in the Beitbridge and Messina areas within the days leading to and during the demonstration and are believed to have been part of the wider network that organised the demonstration.
The sources also revealed that several senior police officers at Beitbridge Police have been summoned to Harare to explain why they allowed the situation to get out of hand failing to detect the processes leading to the demonstration.
State security is believed to be accusing the police of deliberately not controlling the demonstration allowing it to turn violent, as they had not received their June salaries.
Several officers at the police station are bound to face disciplinary action and likely to be dismissed from the force if they are found to have dealt with the situation negligently.
Meanwhile, public opinion already blames Beitbridge Police Officer Commanding who is said to have failed to address the crowd while they were still demonstrating peacefully at the border gate.
The senior police officer is said to have dismissed the demonstrating crowd telling them to “go to hell” when they demanded to be addressed by senior immigration officers at the border.
“It was after the address by the officer commanding that people got angry accusing him of not respecting them then everyone turned violent,” said a resident Monica Ndou.
Police are refusing to comment on the matter referring all questions to the national police spokesperson Charity Charamba for comments.