Zimbabwe extends ban on political rallies

Zimbabwe extends ban on political rallies

OPPOSITION leader Arthur Mutambara addressing a rally in Harare (File Photo)

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN police have extended a ban on political rallies and protests in Harare which the country's embattled opposition has likened to "a state of emergency".

President Robert Mugabe's government imposed a three-month ban against rallies and demonstrations in February over fears of an opposition uprising in the face of a deepening economic crisis.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported that police authorities had extended the ban by another month in central Harare and in several volatile townships in the capital "in the interest of preserving peace and public order".

Government and opposition officials were not immediately available for comment.

But the ZBC said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena had warned that police would be tough with anyone who broke the law.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is still waiting for the courts to hear its petition against the initial ban, which it likened to a state of emergency and came alongside a government crackdown on its leaders.

Mugabe's Zanu PF administration has routinely used riot police squads to crush anti-government rallies, most recently on May 8 when they used rubber batons to disperse a march by human rights lawyers protesting against the arrest of two colleagues.

Tensions rose sharply in early March after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of other MDC supporters - including former Australian resident Sekai Holland - sustained serious injuries after being arrested by police at an aborted prayer rally in Harare.

The 83-year-old Mugabe accuses the MDC of being stooges of Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain in an effort to oust his government as punishment for seizing and redistributing white-owned commercial farms to landless blacks.

Britain denies there is such a plot, and the MDC says it is not a puppet party.

Critics say Mugabe has mismanaged Zimbabwe's economy and violated human rights, sending the once-prosperous nation into a crisis marked by inflation of more than 3,700 per cent, unemployment of more than 80 per cent and chronic shortages of food and fuel. - Reuters

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