Zimbabwe police charge protesters
Updated on 03 December 2008
Zimbabwe riot police have charged union members and medical staff who were protesting over a cash shortage and a cholera outbreak.
Zimbabwean trade unions called a day of protest over the deepening banking crisis while at least 100 doctors and nurses protested outside the health ministry in the capital Harare.
A cholera outbreak has killed nearly 500 people and infected almost 12,000 Zimbabweans, forcing hundreds to cross the border with South Africa to seek treatment.
Some reports claim there could be as many as 1000 people dead.
The spread of cholera, normally a preventable and treatable disease, highlights the collapse in the once relatively prosperous African nation, where President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are squabbling over how to implement a power-sharing agreement.
Riot police armed with shields and batons broke up a group of about 20 demonstrators marching towards the central bank in Harare's central business district.
Across town, police also dispersed a group of about 100 health workers, including doctors and nurses, who had converged at the head offices of the health ministry.
Police were not immediately available for comment.
Public hospitals have largely shut down due to drug and equipment shortages as well as frequent strikes by doctors and nurses pressing for better pay.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said it would press ahead with protests despite a heavy police presence. The ZCTU said at least one union leader had been arrested by secret police from the Central Intelligence Organisation.
State media said the central bank will introduce new higher denomination bank notes of up to 100 million Zimbabwe dollars as it battles to contain hyperinflation.
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