For instance, and commendably so, no journalist was arrested, detained or assaulted by the police in the first six months of 2018 following the December 2017 meeting and its attendant action plans. This situation also subsisted during the election period and more-so during the election-related demonstrations that rocked Harare on 1 August 2018. However, one foreign journalist, Joseph Cotterill, was reportedly shoved with a rifle butt by a member of the anti-riot police when the police tried to block an MDC Alliance electionrelated press conference at a local hotel in Harare on 3 August 2018. The other three cases involved the assault of journalists by the military during the violent demonstrations in Harare on 1 August 2018. Regrettably, this changed during the post-election period in 2018 and during the course of 2019 as the country continued to witness cases involving the assault or arrests/detention of journalists by anti-riot police. For instance, in 2017, MISA Zimbabwe recorded the specific assault of eight (8) journalists during the course of their duties compared to the 12 recorded in 2016. Then, and as obtained in 2019, the majority of the cases of assault of journalists on duty were perpetrated by the police. A total of 14 journalists were assaulted in 2018 compared to eight (8) in 2017, an increase of 75%. Thus the situation remained relatively unchanged in 2019 during which 12 journalists were assaulted while conducting their lawful professional duties. While this marks a decline of 14.3%, the majority of the cases save for two, yet again, involved the police. The violations for the year 2019 are noted as: • • • 27 violations - number of journalists and artists who’s media freedom and freedom of expression rights were violated. 25 of these cases were recorded with two incidents unrecorded because the journalists involved declined to be so recorded. 20 alerts issued (alerts may contain more than 1 violation) 11