40 women arrested in Zimbabwe Valentine's protest

40 women arrested in Zimbabwe Valentine's protest

JENNI Williams: "The police were getting into buses and taxis pulling out any woman wearing a red or white dress or carrying a red rose"

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN police arrested at least 40 women in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo Saturday during a pre-Valentine's Day march "to spread a message of love", one of the organisers of the march said.

"About 40 women have been arrested and are being held at Bulawayo central police station," said Jenni Williams, spokesperson for Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) a civic group that organised the march.

"It's most likely there are lots of people who have just been caught up because the police were getting into buses and taxis pulling out any woman wearing a red or white dress or carrying a red rose.

Human rights lawyer Arnold Tsunga said: "I have just heard about the arrests and I am on my way to the police station to confirm. As of now, I don't even know what charges they are facing."

Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka could not be reached on his mobile phone.

Williams said about 500 women staged a peaceful march through central Bulawayo calling on Zimbabweans to "choose the power of love rather than the love of power".

"We felt with the elections around the corner, it's important that Zimbabweans have love in their hearts so that when they go out campaigning they will campaign peacefully and when they vote they will choose a person with a loving heart," she said.

The police broke up the march when the women stopped outside the offices of a government-run newspaper group.

Zimbabwe's most recent elections in 2000 and 2002 were marred by allegations of widespread violence and intimidation.

President Robert Mugabe, police chief Augustine Chihuri and some ruling party officials have called for peaceful campaigns ahead of the crunch parliamentary polls on March 31 - AFP
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