Mass protest outside Zimbabwe Embassy on 7th Anniversary of London Vigil for Freedom

Hundreds of Zimbabweans gathered outside the Zimbabwean Embassy in London on Saturday the 10th of October to protest at the continued denial of basic freedoms by the Mugabe regime. Previously, there had been a ‘shopping expedition’ to Harrods by protestors masquerading as Robert and Grace Mugabe.

On the occasion of the 7th Anniversary of this London vigil, the protestors presented a petition (Saturday 10 October) with thousands of signatures to Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, who spearheads the fight against the Mugabe regime in the European Parliament. The petition demands action from Zimbabwe’s neighbours.

In his address to the protestors, Mr Van Orden undertook to present the petition to the President of the European Parliament and commented:

 “Mugabe’s regime is entirely to blame for the tragedy which has afflicted Zimbabwe for the past decade and more. We want to see a normalisation of relations with Zimbabwe but this cannot happen until freedom is restored, the rule of law prevails and there is an end to political oppression – that means Mugabe must step down.

 “Last September's power-sharing Global Political Agreement (GPA) has not been respected. The EU’s travel restrictions and bank freeze on Mugabe’s cronies must remain in place until there is real change.

 “The key to change rests with Zimbabwe’s neighbours, South Africa in particular. It is shameful that most of them have conspired to keep Mugabe in power, thereby prolonging the misery of the people of Zimbabwe and the economic problems of the southern African region.”


Geoffrey Van Orden MEP has been a campaigner for a free and democratic Zimbabwe since first being elected in 1999. He has initiated 17 Urgency Resolutions on the topic in the European Parliament.

He has been personally banned by Mugabe from travelling to Zimbabwe - a ban which he regards as a badge of honour.

The petition states:

“We record our dismay at the failure of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help the desperate people of Zimbabwe at their time of trial. We urge the UK government and the European Union in general to suspend government to government aid to SADC countries until they abide by their joint commitment to uphold human rights in the region. We suggest that the money should instead be used to feed the starving in Zimbabwe”.