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40 MDC supporters still detained
Sebastian Nyamhangambiri, ZimOnline
May 28, 2007

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1195

Zimbabwean police were on Sunday still detaining about 40 supporters of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party who were arrested on Saturday in Harare.

They were part of 200 MDC supporters arrested while attending meetings at the opposition party's Harvest House headquarters in Harare.

Police spokesperson Andrew Phiri told ZimOnline yesterday that the MDC supporters are likely to appear in court today facing public violence charges.

Phiri said the police suspected that the MDC supporters were behind a spate of petrol bomb attacks that began last March on police stations and other state institutions.

He also said the rest of the MDC supporters were released yesterday without charge.

Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the main faction of the MDC, last month said at least 600 of his supporters had been arrested since March as President Robert Mugabe intensifies a crackdown on the resurgent opposition.

The MDC supporters join another group of about 30 other activists who have been languishing in remand prison since March after they were accused of spearheading the petrol bomb attacks on government institutions.

The MDC denies that its activists are behind the petrol bomb incidents saying Mugabe was using the charge to crack down on the opposition in order to decapitate and weaken the party ahead of next year's key elections. - ZimOnline

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