Police in Harare, Zimbabwe, arrested 10 university students on Wednesday including four officers of the Zimbabwe National Students Union or Zinasu as they conducted a meeting with students on the campus of the University of Zimbabwe regarding tuition fees and accommodation problems.
Plainclothes police and university security guards detained Zinasu President Joshua Chinyere, Secretary General Grant Tabvurei, Treasurer Zivanai Muzorodzi and Education Secretary Artwell Chidya, sources said.
Zinasu spokesman Wisdom Mugagara said six other students were arrested and beaten up by the security guards and police before being locked up at the police station in the Avondale section of the Zimbabwean capital.
Mugagara said the union had sought assistance from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in obtaining the release of the students.
Meanwhile, a rival Zinasu faction has elected a new leadership led by President Tafadzwa Mugwadi of the University of Zimbabwe and Secretary General Kurai Hove. The Mugwadi-led Zinasu faction opposes the parliamentary-led constitutional revision process, the Chinyere faction supports it.
