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Soldier orders vendors to surrender newspapers
MISA-Zimbabwe
May 24, 2012

Vendors selling copies of the privately-owned Newsday and Daily News newspapers in Gokwe in the Midlands Province were on 22 May 2012 ordered by a lone solider to surrender their newspapers at a local police post in the Midlands provincial town centre.

According to a report carried by Newsday in its edition of 23 May 2012, the solider arrived at a local sports bar in the morning and ordered the vendors not to sell the papers.

It is feared that the soldier's actions could signal renewed terror campaigns against the independent press ahead of elections slated for this year or in 2013. One of the vendors said the harassment started on 10 March 2012 when five men travelling in a Mitsubishi vehicle ordered vendors in the area not to sell newspapers belonging to the two publications.

The Newsday's newsroom was reportedly inundated with calls from Gokwe as readers expressed their concern over the clampdown.

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