Police, deployed at most sites where there was felt to be potential violence, failed to control the huge crowds who were allegedly hurling stones at them. There were reports at some shopping centres that the police helplessly watched people looting after they had run out of teargas canisters they had been firing to disperse crowds.

Because of the riots most shops in the high density areas were closed, including the tuck shops, and families were beginning to run out of food. In the shops that remained open, especially in the northern suburbs, there was panic buying as people grabbed whatever they could lay their hands on in anticipation of a longer period of rioting. By mid-morning most of the shops had closed fearing that the looters might turn their attentions on them. Transport remained a major problem, with commuter omnibuses dropping off people along Bulawayo Road, where there was minimal violence. People had to complete their journeys on foot. Cars were stoned by youths wielding stones and sticks.

Riots were reported all over the city’s high density areas; Kuwadzana, Glen View, Mufakose, Highfield, Mbare and Glen Norah, among others. It was reported that more than 500 people had been arrested in the two days of rioting, with over 200 of them being made in Chitungwiza alone. The Government announced in the evening that the Zimbabwe National Army was being deployed in all parts of Harare and Chitungwiza. The entire army was put on alert in case the situation spread to other towns, which it did (see below).

Press Reports
HARARE
Mbare
It was reported that one woman, on Monday, was mobbed by a gang at the flyover bridge that leads to Mbare and was forced to pay a Z$20 protection fee to save herself from being molested or raped. The gang demanded to know why she and other women were going about their business instead of joining them. The woman allegedly clung to one of the gang members and pleaded for her life. He demanded that she paid a protection fee, which she did. Several motorists had their windscreens smashed and doors ripped off while others lost both their car and money to the youths.

Mufakose
Hundreds of people entered a Spar retail outlet and walked away with food and cosmetics after breaking the glass walls. About eight riot police had been guarding the store. An outlet in the same suburb, Mr Razz, was not spared the looting which some people said went on until the early morning hours. No vehicles were allowed in or out of the suburb. Rioters targeted signposts and street lights, pulling them down.

Kuwadzana
The demonstrators broke into song and dance, denouncing the riot police for preventing them from looting shops, while harassing other people and motorists in Kuwadzana 2. An Air Force helicopter came to the aid of the police who were apparently failing to control the angry crowds. Soldiers in the helicopter threw teargas canisters from the air to disperse the demonstrators, who were, however, undeterred. They continued harassing motorists and blocking all roads from the city centre as human traffic became thicker. As police threw volleys of teargas canisters to the demonstrators in Kuwadzana 2, people were busy destroying property at Kuwadzana 3 and 4 shopping centres.

Glen View
At Glen View 3 shopping centre, during the night, about four grocery shops and a bottle store were looted. Other shops in Glen View 8 were also looted. There were attempts to set the shops on fire. The police were called on to quell violence that had erupted during the day and rounded up all of the youths who were at Glen View 1 shopping centre. In the afternoon police shot and injured a young man in the leg. He was among a crowd that had formed a circle around Tichagarika Shopping Centre in Glen View 3 shops, which had been looted the previous night. People were reportedly seeking refuge in homes close to the shopping centre which prompted the police to fire teargas canisters into the houses.

Highfield
At Machipisa shopping centre in Highfield two shops were cleaned out. Several arrests were made. Lusaka in Highfield became a no-go area as protesters destroyed traffic lights in all roads leading to Machipisa shopping centre. Two people were shot and injured at Machipisa shopping centre in the evening. One was shot in the hand while the other was shot in the stomach and shoulder. Although an ambulance was called to ferry one of them to the hospital, it never came; the controllers allegedly saying that they could not attend to the wounded because the roads were inaccessible. A Herald reporter on leave ended up going to the police station begging that they ferry one of the injured to the hospital and they eventually did. The other man had the bullet removed from his hand by colleagues and refused to go to the hospital because of religious beliefs.

Budiriro
A Budiriro man said some of the shops had survived the looting on Monday, but because of lack of police presence, looters were going for the shops. He complained that the helicopters had been hovering, but no one was taking action to stop the looters.

CHITUNGWIZA
At least two people were reported shot and seriously injured in Chitungwiza on Monday morning when looters laid siege to some shopping centres in the town as armed police kept them at bay with sporadic gunfire and teargas. The two were shot at separate times at St Mary's shopping centre as looters tried to storm shops that had survived Monday's raid that saw, among others, a doctor's surgery and a clothing store smashed and completely cleaned out. One of those shot was taken to Chitungwiza Hospital in a wheelbarrow and the other on a bicycle by sympathisers. Their conditions could not be readily ascertained by late last night.

A Government Nissan truck was torched in nearby Chaminuka Drive by gangs of rioters, part of the looters that were trying to storm the shopping centre. Police, hard-pressed to contain other incidents in the town were, however, generally on top of the situation.

A couple of air force helicopters monitored events over the town throughout the day. By about 5pm when the army had already been deployed at the most dangerous spots, the aircraft and police on the ground had managed to clear the crowds from the near shopping centres, although the situation remained very tense. Traffic was by this time moving relatively unhindered, unlike earlier in the day when certain place were "no-go-areas" for motorists.

The Chitungwiza Council's head office, which on Monday was attacked by a large stone-throwing mob as workers fled, was shut on Tuesday, as were all other council promises throughout the town. Chitungwiza Executive Mayor Joseph Macheka's liquor business in Seke was reportedly looted on Monday night. He was not available for comment.

It was also relatively quiet on Tuesday at the rubbish-strewn Chitungwiza shopping centre, which was attacked on Monday and severely damaged. But the situation was very tense as hordes of mainly youths, some of them mere children, waited ominously at the nearby wrecked Unit D shopping centre for a chance to rush the armed police and again loot the shops. A two-man Herald crew covering the area came under attack from the mob at about 4pm as it chased the car and tried unsuccessfully to head it off.

At Zengeza 2 shopping centre a Spar supermarket belonging, like most of the businesses that suffered damage in the district shopping centres, to an indigenous businessman, was the most severely damaged. Opposite the nearby Zengeza 2 garage, two huge tuck shops known for their wide range of commodities were stripped of everything on Monday night as police battled to protect the Zengeza 2 shopping centre in running skirmishes with looters.

BULAWAYO AND MASVINGO
The shops in Bulawayo and Masvingo closed early, but no violence was reported.

GWERU
Thousands of Gweru residents joined their Harare counterparts when they took to the streets demonstrating. The demonstrations, which were characterised by heavy police presence, including an Air Force of Zimbabwe helicopter, started off peacefully, but later developed into sporadic skirmishes with the police, after some demonstrators started breaking shop windows. By mid-morning most shops and banks had been closed.

CHEGUTU
In Chegutu, the riots left a trail of destruction on Monday night, with goods worth thousands of dollars stolen. More than 100 suspected looters were arrested. A small group of people, mainly youths, started the demonstration at about 5pm when it stormed an Aroma Bakery in the town centre. The demonstrators smashed the bakery's windows and looted a few items before they went on to stone the company's vehicles which were parked at the premises. Three of the delivery trucks had their windscreens shattered.

Police were alerted and some policemen, who had already finished work, had to be re-called. Members of the police quickly moved in and drove the rioters from the town centre to Pfupajena high density suburb. Several teargas canisters were fired to disperse the rowdy group.

A number of shops in the town centre were damaged as the rioters retaliated by throwing missiles at the police and buildings. Windows at some buildings were shattered. Among the damaged shops in central Chegutu were Edgars, Bata and Express Stores. Most of the destruction was in Pfupajena high density area, where many shops had their windows shattered, burglar bars ripped off, and goods stolen. Cutman Supermarket at Pfupajena shopping centre was the most affected. The shop had closed for the day. Rioters first ripped off burglar bars before they smashed the huge windows to gain entry. The supermarket was looted of all the goods. Only bare shelves remained. Even tills were stolen from some shops. The shopping centre was still under police guard by Tuesday afternoon. At the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation township and at Muvova shopping centre shops were not spared either. Among other damaged shops in Pfupajena were Zvikomborero Mini-market, Luck Savings Butchery, Nyangani Store and Masanga General Dealer.

The rioters were, however, overpowered. They then retreated to Pfupajena township, where they were joined by larger groups of demonstrators. Chegutu police were busy processing the suspects on Tuesday, whom they asked to identify their loot one after the other. Most of them were able to identify their booty. The running battles between the police and the demonstrators lasted about six hours. The situation in the town was calm throughout the day Tuesday. Shops in the town centre and in the high density suburbs remained closed for the whole day. Only bottle stores and other beer outlets were open.