HARARE: Demonstrators in Zimbabwe held the largest protest against President Robert Mugabe in nearly a decade on Thursday, marching through central Harare demanding that the 92-year-old leader make a “dignified exit.”

Under the watchful eye of riot police, more than 2,000 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) carried anti-Mugabe placards and sang party songs before their leader Morgan Tsvangirai gave a speech attacking Mugabe’s rule.

Anti-government protests have often been brutally broken up by police under the authoritarian regime of the president, who has been in power since independence in 1980. Mugabe remains active but his increasingly fragile health has sparked intense speculation over his successor and the fate of the country when his rule comes to an end.

Zimbabwe has suffered years of economic collapse and mass emigration during an era marked by intolerance of dissent, vote rigging and accusations of human rights abuses.

“Mugabe has no solution to the crisis,” Tsvangirai said in a brief speech to supporters gathered in Africa Unity Square wearing T-shirts in the party’s red colours.

“We are here to tell Mugabe and his regime that you have failed.”

We are not demanding an overthrow of the government... We are demanding a dignified exit for the tired Mugabe.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2016