Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Zimbabwe police fire tear gas into crowd headed to opposition rally
Angus Shaw, Associated Press
January 23, 2008

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080123-1309-zimbabwe-elections.html

Zimbabwe police fired tear gas and charged toward several hundred protesters making their way to a rally Wednesday, following the brief detention of the leader of the country's political opposition.

Police had earlier banned a march planned by supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. The party appealed the ban, but a high court upheld it, although it said a planned rally could go ahead, according to Nelson Chamisa, the opposition party's spokesman.

Tsvangirai was briefly detained, in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent the protests from going forward.

The demonstration was to be the first test of new security laws adopted earlier this month that were meant to ease restrictions on protests in the leadup to elections set for March. The reforms also relaxed rules for journalists to obtain licenses, and set up a new licensing authority.

After the court ruling, several hundred oppositions supporters chanting and waving placards started walking from party headquarters in downtown Harare, where they has gathered to await the court's ruling, toward the rally site, a stadium about a 20-minute walk away.

After about four blocks, police fired tear gas and charged the group, which they said was breaking the court ruling by marching. The group then dispersed.

Opposition lawyer Alec Muchadehama said there were some injuries and ''quite a lot'' of demonstrators were arrested.

''Police behavior was unlawful,'' he added.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the aftermath, streets were littered with opposition posters, flyers and several shoes lost as people fled the tear gas. Riot police with dogs were stationed at the closed gates of the stadium.

Tsvangirai later addressed a few hundred people outside of the stadium. He said his party would intensify protests throughout Zimbabwe, South Africa's SABC radio news reported.

Tsvangirai had been expected to speak at the rally. Chamisa said police had seized Tsvangirai at around 4 a.m. from his home in northern Harare and released him five hours later.

Chamisa said the arrest and the ban on the march were a deliberate snub to South African efforts to find a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis. South African President Thabo Mbeki had mediated talks between the two sides after the opposition claimed security and media laws were hindering election campaigning.

''It's a mockery of President 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 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 until June to allow for its demands to be met. President Robert Mugabe has insisted elections take place as scheduled.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP