This was the eerie scene on the streets of Zimbabwe’s on Sunday night as the city received the news that dictator Robert Mugabe was clinging to power.
Harare turned into a virtual ghost town as crowds that had been celebrating Mugabe’s imminent demise flocked to their television sets to watch him speak.
But even after Mugabe failed to step down crowds stayed indoors, fearful of what might be about to happen next.
Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have openly demonstrated against Mr Mugabe, and now they stayed at home fearing that brutal repercussions.
Despite Mugabe’s bold refusal to loose his grip on power, military officials vowed to press ahead with impeaching him on Monday.
Meanwhile Chris Mutsvangwa, who has been leading a campaign to oust Mugabe, vowed that people would take to the streets of Harare for protests on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the Zanu PF Twitter feed, which has been disseminating messages on behalf of Mugabe’s opponents since the military took power, appeared to suggest that he had gone off-script with his remarks.
In the moments after Mugbae’s bizarre and rambling speech, in which he struggled with his notes several times, the feed vowed: ‘Don’t worry, be patient. We have decided to be kind.’
But that stance changed suddenly with another message which said: ‘Actually all the old man needed to do was stick to the script. Now we must remove him.’
It later added: ‘We gave Robert Gabriel Mugabe every chance to have a dignified exit. But he is mad.’
-Mailonline