A video shared thousands of times on Facebook claims to show police in Zimbabwe beating churchgoers because their place of worship refused to close to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The 30-second video shows police chasing\xa0people in the street with batons., Similar claims are shared on Facebook in multiple posts here and here., A keyword search on Twitter\xa0showed\xa0the video had been shared by a journalist on\xa0November 20, 2019, months before the novel coronavirus was confirmed in Zimbabwe., “Video received: Zimbabwe riot police attacked opposition party MDC Alliance supporters today who had gathered to hear leader, Nelson Chamisa, give his Hope of the Nation Address,” the tweet reads., Video received: Zimbabwe riot police attacked opposition party MDC Alliance supporters today who had gathered to hear leader, Nelson Chamisa, give his Hope of the Nation Address. pic.twitter.com/HfM0gP0pRh, One woman in the video can be seen in both the misleading video and in a tweet by former Zimbabwean minister David Coltart condemning the police brutality on November 20, 2019., To all those apologists of the Mnangagwa regime - look into the eyes of these innocent victims of gross ZRP brutality this morning. Old men and women included. #Zimbabwe pic.twitter.com/wh0lV5Nm1f, The woman is identifiable by her clothing\xa0-- a red dress and crocheted cover-up., AFP photographer\xa0Jekesai Njikizana caught the event on camera. In one of his shots, a man in red overalls with a matching red backpack can also be seen in the video currently being shared., Njikizana’s photograph is captioned:\xa0“An anti-riot police man in Zimbabwe tackles a woman with his boot as they dispersed a crowd gathered to hear an address by leader of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) Alliance, Nelson Chamisa at Morgan Tsvangirai House, the party headquarters, in Harare, on November 20, 2019., “Nelson Chamisa was due to address party supporters in his Hope of the Nation Address (HONA). The public address was blocked by riot police who beat up several people as they dispersed.”, As reported by AFP, Zimbabwe has banned gatherings of more than 50 people to ward off the spread of the new coronavirus., On Monday, the country recorded its first death from COVID-19, as reported by Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster., BREAKING: The Ministry of Health and Child Care @MoHCCZim has confirmed the passing on at Wilkins Hospital of one of the two confirmed cases Covid-19 in the country. "It\s a very sad day for us," said Perm Sec Dr Agnes Mahomva. More to follow ...@nickmangwana, @InfoMinZW, , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Video shows Zimbabwe police beating opposition members, not churchgoers defying virus rules | AFP Fact Check