'Internet shutdown' grips Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe imposed a "total internet shutdown" for most of Friday in what critics called an attempt to hide growing reports of a violent crackdown on protests against a dramatic fuel price increase. Badly injured people streamed into a hospital in the capital, and rights groups said at least 12 people were killed this week.

Gasoline in the economically shattered country is now the world's most expensive, and since Monday, Zimbabweans have heeded a nationwide call shared on social media to stay at home in protest. Others took to the streets. Since then, graphic reports have emerged of security forces targeting activists and labor leaders while the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa blamed the opposition for the unrest.

"Our country is going through one of the most trying periods in its history," the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference said, lamenting the government's "intolerant handling of dissent" and its failure to halt economic collapse.

Access to the internet and popular social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp has been intermittently blocked as the country's largest telecom company, Econet, sends customers text messages relaying the government's orders and calling the situation "beyond our reasonable control."

The shutdown has cut off crucial access to the electronic bank deposits Zimbabwe's struggling government, without a national currency, uses to pay teachers and other public workers. Some people said they stayed home this week because they were running out of money to afford even a bus fare.

As the few open shops run out of basic necessities such as bread, hungry Zimbabweans who have ventured out in search of food risk confrontations with security forces.

More than 600 people have been arrested, among them a prominent pastor and activist, Evan Mawarire, who has supported the protests on social media and faces a possible 20 years in prison on a subversion charge.

Mawarire called it "heartbreaking" to see the new government acting like that of long-time former leader Robert Mugabe, whose repressive regime also charged Mawarire with subversion. A magistrate Friday told Mawarire, accused of inciting civil disobedience online, he must stand trial. He remains in detention through the weekend.

More than 400 people arrested across the country have been denied bail, said Mawarire's lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa. "It is quite clear that there is a coordinated, deliberate, orchestrated attempt to subvert justice," she told reporters.

International calls for restraint by Zimbabwe's security forces are growing, while Mnangagwa prepares to plead for more investment at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was worried about "the deterioration of the situation."

Zimbabweans had briefly rejoiced when Mnangagwa succeeded Mugabe, who was forced out in late 2017, thinking the new president would deliver on his refrain the country "is open for business." But frustration has reached new highs as Zimbabweans sleep in their cars in hours-long fuel lines replacing hours-long bank lines as the country's symbol of despair.

Mnangagwa announced the fuel price increase on the eve of an extended overseas trip, leaving hard-line former military commander and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga as acting president.

For the second time since Mnangagwa took office, the military is in the streets to put down protests -- a sight rarely seen during Mugabe's 37-year rule.

In addition to the 12 people killed this week, at least 78 have been shot and more than 240 have faced "assault, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment," the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said Friday in a statement, "Days of Darkness in Zimbabwe." Children as young as 9 have reportedly been tortured as security forces break into private homes, it said.

The U.N. human rights office urged Zimbabwe to stop the crackdown, noting reports of intimidating door-to-door searches by security forces. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said soldiers Friday had taken away the mother of its national chairman, saying they were looking for her son.

"We are worried about her life," the group said. "The ruling party's obsession with power has led to the militarization of the Zimbabwean state."