Riot police break up Zim PM meeting
2013-03-06 07:43
Special Report
Chinese vice premier Wang Yang has urged Zimbabwe to ensure peace and political stability ahead of elections this year.
Harare - Riot police in Zimbabwe blocked an address Tuesday
by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whose uneasy unity rule with President
Robert Mugabe is set to end within months at the ballot box.
"Riot police have just disrupted a community meeting I
was due to address," Tsvangirai tweeted on Tuesday night. "Their
actions today show that the leopard has not changed colours."
A pick-up truck loaded with helmet-clad police officers
carrying riot shields and batons could be seen in pictures posted on
Tsvangirai's Facebook page.
The meeting was set to start at 18:00 in the capital,
state-run newspaper The Herald reported on Wednesday.
But around 20 riot police ordered people to leave the meeting
before it had started.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said the meeting was
stopped as it had not been cleared with authorities.
The area's district police officer "was not given the
notice of intention to hold the meeting" as legally required, she was
quoted as saying.
However, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the
documentation had been sent to the police.
"We were unlawfully dispersed," Senator Obert Gutu
told The Herald, adding that the meeting was to discuss an upcoming vote on a
draft constitution.
"For the police to say they dispersed the meeting
because it was in the evening, it would be a frivolous excuse," he added.
Fresh polls
Zimbabwe's security forces are seen as loyal to Mugabe who
shares power with Tsvangirai in an uneasy unity government that was uneasily
formed after chaotic polls in 2008.
Zimbabweans will vote on March 16 in a draft referendum
which is set to pave the way for fairer elections.
Fresh polls are set for July to steer Zimbabwe onto a new
track after a series of votes were marred by violence, intimidation and
economic hardship.
The run-up to the polls has been marked by a crackdown
against political activists, media and civil society groups.
Radio stations have been raided, members of non-governmental
groups have been arrested and the son of an opposition leader died in a
suspected firebomb attack.
Zimbabwe police have found no foul play in the house fire
that killed the 12-year-old boy.
Mugabe, who turned 89 on February 21 has ruled the southern
African nation since independence in 1980.
The former rivals set up a unity government in early 2009
after the violent polls of the previous year tipped the country into crisis.
- SAPA
