{Eleven people were killed in a stampede at a crusade held by a popular prophet in Kwekwe, central Zimbabwe, on Friday, police and a religious organisation said.}<\/p>\n
A number of others were reportedly injured when police fired teargas into a crowd of around 15 000 people trying to leave a stadium at the close of the religious rally early on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Officers were believed to have blocked all but one exit.<\/p>\n
Pictures posted on social media showed a collapsed wall at Mbizo Stadium in the small mining town.<\/p>\n
Walter Magaya, the head of the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries, told Zimbabwean tabloid H-Metro: “I am gutted. I had already left the venue when I got news that there was a commotion. Within minutes I was told that eight people had died.<\/p>\n
“Saddest moment of my life”<\/p>\n
“I rushed back to the venue and it was very sad, the saddest moment of my life. As of this morning I am made to understand that three more died,” Magaya said.<\/p>\n
Zenzele Ndebele, editor of the independent Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo, wrote on social networking site Twitter: “I don’t understand why police will block exits and then throw teargas on innocent people.”<\/p>\n
This is the second incident in less than a month involving police firing teargas at crowds in an indoor space.<\/p>\n
A number of people were reported injured at a dance hall competition on 8 November in Harare, when police fired teargas to disperse fans of two rival dance hall artists.<\/p>\n
“Someone please do something about these overzealous Zim policemen,” Twitter user @waltseth tweeted.<\/p>\n
Police have confirmed the latest incident.<\/p>\n
News 24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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