Freed Zim pastor urges Zimbabweans to carry on with shutdown

Freed protest pastor Evan Mawarire called on Zimbabweans to step up a stayaway Thursday as a top cabinet minister warned the case against him "remains open".

Mawarire told his supporters in a video clip posted to Facebook to “carry on with our stayaway and shutdown" hours after a Harare magistrate dismissed charges against him, sending Zimbabweans outside the court and online into celebration.

The 39-year-old father-of-two was arrested on Tuesday and eventually charged with trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government following a widely-followed national strike last week.

A strike set for Wednesday and Thursday this week has so far had much less of a following, partly because many civil servants have finally received their wages for last month.