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Riot cops raid MDC headquarters
25/04/2008 13:02 - (SA)
Harare - Armed riot police raided the
headquarters of Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Friday and
detained scores of people in the biggest crackdown on the MDC
since elections last month, officials said.
The Movement for Democratic Change says it defeated
President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 elections as well as
ending his party's 28-year hold on parliament.
A delay to the presidential result and a recount of some
parliamentary votes have brought growing international pressure
on Mugabe, 84, and stoked fears of bloodshed in a country
already suffering an economic collapse.
Dozens of riot police detained around 100 MDC supporters who
were bundled into a crowded police bus before being taken away,
a Reuters witness said.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said among those detained were
supporters who had come to the party headquarters after being
hurt in what the opposition calls a post-election campaign of
violence by Mugabe's followers.
"They took everyone in the building, including those who had
come just to seek medical care. They are trying to destroy
evidence of their brutality," Chamisa told Reuters.
He said police also took some computers.
Police said the raid targeted people who had sought refuge
at the opposition headquarters after having "committed crimes"
outside Harare.
"Some of them are not office workers at all. We are busy
screening them. There are some cases we are investigating and we
will release those who have not committed any crime," said
police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said.
Mugabe, a hero of the struggle for independence, accuses the
opposition of conspiring with his Western critics to bring him
down but he has also faced growing pressure from southern
African neighbours over the election deadlock.
'Myopic stooges'
Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper on Friday called
African leaders "myopic stooges" for joining the Western
criticism of Zimbabwe's handling of the election.
In an unprecedented move by a region growing increasingly
impatient with Mugabe, Zimbabwe's neighbours refused this week
to let a Chinese ship unload weapons for his country amid the
election deadlock. China said the ship would head home.
"The attempt to link the shipment to the post-election
environment should convince sceptics of the lengths to which the
Westerners and their lackeys will go to manufacture a crisis in
Zimbabwe," The Herald said.
The top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of
State Jendayi Frazer, said on Thursday the United States backed
calls from former colonial ruler Britain for an arms embargo to
put pressure on Mugabe.
"Zimbabwe is ... under attack from the former coloniser and
its allies. As such, Zimbabwe probably needs to arm itself more
than any other country in Africa today for the simple reason
that it has been targeted for destabilisation by the traditional
Western rabble rousers," the Herald said.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he won the
presidential poll and accused Mugabe of delaying results to rig
victory and keep his hold over Zimbabwe, whose economy lies in
ruins with inflation of 165 000% and chronic food and
fuel shortages.
US envoy Frazer, who met with Tsvangirai on Thursday, is
now due to visit Zambia and African oil power Angola.
The recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the
results of the parliamentary election, which showed Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF losing its majority for the first time.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ZEC has recounted nine
constituencies, and so far all candidates who were originally
declared winners have retained their position. The full recount
is expected by the weekend.
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