Scores arrested in Zim riot

HARARE – Zimbabwean riot police thwarted a mass anti-government protest yesterday by rounding up dozens of opposition activists as veteran leader Robert Mugabe revealed ambitions for another term as president.

At least four lawmakers from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change were among those held by riot squad officers as they tried to reach a sports ground in defiance of a ban on anti-government demonstrations, the MDC said. “A number of our senior officials have been arrested,” William Bango, spokesman for main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told AFP.As well as the legislators, the party’s chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa and the head of a splinter MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, were also arrested as they tried to make their way to the Highfields township.The rally, convened by The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, would have been a rare show of unity from the rival factions of the MDC since the party split in 2005 over a decision to contest senate polls.But armed police sealed off all roads to the political hotbed of Highfields, subjecting travellers to rigorous searches and turning away vehicles.An AFP correspndent saw truckloads of armed police patrolling the streets, dispersing residents seen either walking towards the venue of the demonstration or gathered in groups.”Highfields has been turned into a no-go area,” Chamisa told AFP before his arrest by police who pulled him out of a car in which he was travelling with party colleagues and frog-marched him into a police truck.”There are policemen every 40 or so metres.I have never seen such fascism,” he added.He said that the organisers, The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, would not be cowed by threats from police to block the rally.The Save Zimbabwe Campaign is a coalition of church, rights and opposition groups agitating for political change in the southern African country which has been run by Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party since independence in 1980.National police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told journalists that police would not allow the rally, which the organisers had described as “a prayer meeting” following last month’s ban on political rallies and processions.Nampa-AFP”A number of our senior officials have been arrested,” William Bango, spokesman for main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told AFP.As well as the legislators, the party’s chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa and the head of a splinter MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, were also arrested as they tried to make their way to the Highfields township.The rally, convened by The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, would have been a rare show of unity from the rival factions of the MDC since the party split in 2005 over a decision to contest senate polls.But armed police sealed off all roads to the political hotbed of Highfields, subjecting travellers to rigorous searches and turning away vehicles.An AFP correspndent saw truckloads of armed police patrolling the streets, dispersing residents seen either walking towards the venue of the demonstration or gathered in groups.”Highfields has been turned into a no-go area,” Chamisa told AFP before his arrest by police who pulled him out of a car in which he was travelling with party colleagues and frog-marched him into a police truck.”There are policemen every 40 or so metres.I have never seen such fascism,” he added.He said that the organisers, The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, would not be cowed by threats from police to block the rally.The Save Zimbabwe Campaign is a coalition of church, rights and opposition groups agitating for political change in the southern African country which has been run by Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party since independence in 1980.National police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told journalists that police would not allow the rally, which the organisers had described as “a prayer meeting” following last month’s ban on political rallies and processions.Nampa-AFP