gil. She had travelled all the way from Manchester determined on her protest. We were soon joined by groups from Leicester, Wolverhampton and Sheffield and by several babies in buggies. The passionate singing and dancing continued all afternoon with Evelyn beating the hell out of one the drums.
Among people dropping by was a well-known Ugandan writer, a Malawian journalist and an elderly Indian gentleman from South Africa. They were all very supportive as indeed were the thousands of passers-by. Many of them were aware of the clandestine visit to Zimbabwe recently by Kate Hoey, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe. It was given wide publicity on television and in the newspapers, and people were shocked at the brutal treatment of peaceful trade union demonstrators.
While the singing and dancing went on, several people were busy making posters (thanks to Chipo, Bonny, Yeukai and Dumi) for the presentation of our petition on Thursday. Our message is “Vigil 4 Freedom” marking our 4th anniversary. Kate Hoey has agreed to receive the petition outside the Houses of Parliament at 2.30 pm on our anniversary – Thursday October 12.
The petition, signed by more than 10,000 people, calls on the UN Security Council to intervene in the appalling human rights’ situation in Zimbabwe and Kate has promised to ensure that it gets to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General. Mr Annan has failed to deal with the problem so far but he leaves office at the end of the year and we want our petition to be at the top of the in-tray for the new Secretary- General.
The Chair of the MDC UK, Ephraim Tapa, came to the Vigil to urge MDC UK members to come to the Vigil next week. MDC UK, a member of the Vigil Coalition, has asked to join us to express their gratitude for the Vigil’s persistent campaign against human rights abuses and lack of democracy and to mark our anniversary and the 7th anniversary of the MDC. We will all be wearing black armbands to mourn the death of our country.
Two encounters: we had a phone call from a friend in the Murewa area who said he had been threatened by government thugs for distributing the Zimbabwean. He was undeterred though his wife was understandably fearful and an Englishman with a Zimbabwean wife spent some time with us – he recalled how he had been married in Salisbury for 50 cents. What can you get for that now? Certainly not a bride!
For this week’s Vigil pictures: http://uk.msnusers.com/ZimbabweVigil/shoebox.msnw.
FOR THE RECORD: 73 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
•Saturday, 14th October, 1 pm: Free-Zim Youth’s protest about the ineffectiveness of South Africa’s ‘quiet diplomacy’. Venue: outside the South African High Commission, Trafalgar Square. They will be joining the Vigil after their protest.
•Monday, 16th October, 7.30 pm, Central London Zimbabwe Forum Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam Street, London WC2 (cross the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go down a passageway to John Adam Street, turn right and you will see the pub).
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