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Cops teargas MDC supporters
23/01/2008 18:03 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe police fired teargas and charged at several hundred opposition supporters making their way to a rally on Wednesday, following an overnight police raid during which the opposition leader was briefly detained.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, addressed a few hundred people on a vacant lot next to a stadium on the outskirts of the capital where the rally had been scheduled to take place.
Tsvangirai said police conduct proved President Robert Mugabe was uncommitted to holding free and fair elections in March and said his party would intensify protests throughout Zimbabwe, SABC news reported.
Police could not be immediately reached for comment.
The opposition had appealed a police ban on a march and rally to call for political reforms and fair elections. A High Court ruling earlier on Wednesday gave the party permission to proceed with the rally, but not a march to the rally site, said Nelson Chamisa, an MDC spokesperson.
New security laws adopted earlier this month were meant to allow demonstrations in the lead-up to elections set for March.
After the court ruling, several hundred oppositions supporters chanting and waving placards started walking from MDC headquarters in downtown Harare toward the rally site, a stadium in the west of the capital.
After about four blocks, police told the group they were breaking the court ruling by marching. Police then fired teargas and charged, and the group of opposition supporters dispersed.
Opposition lawyer Alec Muchadehama said there were some injuries and "quite a lot" of demonstrators were arrested.
"Police behaviour was unlawful," he said.
In the aftermath, streets were littered with opposition posters and shoes as people fled the teargas. Riot police with dogs were stationed at the closed gates of the stadium.
Chamisa said Tsvangirai's arrest and the ban on the march were a deliberate snub to efforts to find a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis.
"It's a mockery of President (Thabo) Mbeki's efforts. It's a mockery of African solutions to African problems. It's a mockery to humankind," he said.
State radio had said on Tuesday that police believed there were "sinister motives" behind the "Freedom Walk" and that it would not be peaceful.
The opposition has demanded more constitutional and electoral reforms before the election, and said polling should be delayed to June to allow for its demands to be met. Mugabe has insisted national elections are to take place by the end of March.
Changes to Zimbabwe's media, security and electoral laws - negotiated in South African-mediated talks between the ruling party and opposition - were rushed through parliament at the end of 2007. They became law on January 11.
In addition to easing rules on protests, the revised laws relax rules for journalists to obtain licenses, and set up a new licensing authority - the Zimbabwe Media Commission.
- AP
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Zimbabwe Special Report
