Students and pro-democracy activists demanding the creation of a caretaker government

Zimbabwean students and pro-democracy activists marched in Harare on 11 November 2008, demanding the creation of a caretaker government to address the country's economic and humanitarian concerns. Anti-riot police officers used batons to break up the protesters and even attacked some passersby. The demonstration came two days after a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit was unable to break the impasse over the allocation of key ministries in the new government. President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) signed a power sharing agreement in early September 2008, but ministry talks have been deadlocked for more than eight weeks. Meanwhile, human rights observers stated that politically motivated violence is increasing in Zimbabwe. Authorities reported approximately 1,300 cases of political violence in September 2008, which was a 39 percent increase from the previous month. The cases ranged from property destruction to rapes and killings. Politically motivated violence was commonplace during the run up to the 27 June presidential election run off, but had since subsided after Mugabe and the MDC signed a power sharing agreement.