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Zim cops 'shot at MDC activists'
13/03/2007 20:20 - (SA)
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe shot and wounded two opposition activists on Tuesday while they attended the wake of a compatriot shot dead when police crushed an anti-government rally, rally organisers said.
The incident was followed hours later by the assault of four office workers by detectives in a raid on the headquarters of the country's main labour union, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
"Two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists were shot at point blank this morning at the funeral of Gift Tandare in Glen View," the Save Zimbabwe Campaign said in a statement.
"The police said they were making a noise and a commotion ensued. Then the police shot at the activists," Save Zimbabwe Campaign spokesperson Jacob Mafume told AFP.
Tandare, a local party chairperson in Glen View, was fatally shot by a police officer on Sunday when police crushed an anti-government rally called by a coalition of opposition, church and rights groups.
"Nickson Maganda and Naison Mashambanhaka were in a group of mourners consoling the Tandare family. The two are recuperating in hospital."
Two office staffers at the ZCTU were beaten up by a team of detectives who raided the offices in central Harare and seized flyers calling for a job boycott to protest deteriorating living standards in Zimbabwe, the labour body's spokesperson said.
"Six police officers armed with pistols raided our offices and beat up four office staff accusing them of hiding flyers calling for the stay-away," Khumbulani Ndlovu told AFP.
"They had a search warrant saying they were looking for subversive materials."
The ZCTU called for a stay-away protest next month against the worsening political crisis and government's failure to halt the economic meltdown which has condemned the majority of the population to poverty.
- AFP
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