Zim breaks up love protest
2005-02-13 22:03
Special Report
Four Chinese men face deportation from Zimbabwe after they were arrested for killing more than 40 tortoises for meat, a report says.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Harare - Police arrested 53 women who staged a Valentine's Day demonstration on the theme of peace and love, a militant women's organisation said on Sunday.
Police arrested the women - including some passers-by - in the second city of Bulawayo, said Jenni Williams, a leader of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise organisation.
She said about 400 demonstrators were handing out red roses and Valentine cards in the western provincial capital on Saturday ahead of Valentine's Day on Monday, when more symbolic protests are planned.
"Our message is the power of love can conquer the love of power," Williams said.
Some of the arrested women, held in police cells, were scheduled to appear in court Monday on minor charges of obstructing streets and sidewalks in Bulawayo.
Several women were released Sunday, Williams said.
She said police did not lay charges under sweeping security laws banning political demonstrations in the troubled southern African nation.
No immediate comment was available from police.
The women's group has regularly convened meetings and marches to protest abuses of constitutional rights of free speech and free assembly. Most of its protests have been broken up under security and public obstruction laws.
Last year, police dispersed a demonstration of women banging together empty cooking pots and pans to protest food shortages and worsening economic hardships.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic and political crisis since independence in 1980, with routine shortages of food, gasoline and medicines and other imports.
Opponents accuse the government of clamping down on dissent and preventing free campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled March 31.
- AP