Posted on 04/06/2002 9:24:57 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Cracking down on any signs of dissent, police in Zimbabwe blockaded strategic locations in towns across the country to stymie demonstrations called for Saturday by civic groups to protest disputed presidential elections.
At least 22 people were arrested in Harare, including Lovemore Madhuku who heads the umbrella organization of civic groups which organized the protest effort.
Madhuku, speaking from the Harare police station on his mobile phone, said he and the other arrested protesters expected to be charged for defying security laws which ban such unauthorized protests.
Under new sweeping security laws political gatherings of more than three people need to be authorized.
Police officials were not immediately available for comment on the arrests.
Police blockades also prevented protesters gathering in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, and the provincial towns of Mutare and Gweru, said Douglas Mwonzura, spokesman for the National Constitutional Assembly, an alliance of civic reform, human rights and church groups which organized the protests.
Mugabe's critics said efforts to block the opposition from organizing was the latest example of longtime ruler Robert Mugabe's efforts to turn Zimbabwe into a police state.
On Saturday demonstrators, some waving banners demanding democratic reform, were prevented from reaching the planned site of a march through downtown Harare.
Police manned roadblocks on most approaches to the capital's downtown, sealed off the central square and posted riot police on sidewalks, street corners and at bus and parking lots.
Thousands of government critics and opposition activists have been arrested since the election as part of a continuing campaign of harassment and violence targeting critics of Mugabe's 22-year regime, human rights groups said.
On Thursday, police jailed over 350 activists as they organized the protests against Mugabe's announced victory in the March 9-11 elections under the security laws. On Saturday they were freed on bail by the magistrates court in Harare.
Edwina Spicer, a television journalist, was arrested and briefly detained along with her husband, apparently after filming the truckloads of police being deployed in the capital Saturday.
Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo whose ministry controls the police, warned Friday that any demonstrations held would be considered illegal and stopped.
"The law will be applied in full force," he said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has rejected Mugabe's victory over its leader Morgan Tsvangirai and called for a revote in an election they said was tainted by political violence and vote rigging.
Several independent observer groups said the elections were deeply flawed and clearly engineered toward ensuring a Mugabe victory. The United States condemned the vote and the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies suspended Zimbabwe for a year.
Mugabe has rejected calls for another election.
"The next poll will be held six years hence. Let that sink in to Britain and its surrogates in the (opposition) MDC," Mugabe told party members Friday.
Mugabe has painted the opposition as lackeys to Britain, the former colonial power.
A three-day national protest strike called two weeks ago fizzled out, in part because the new law prevented labor officials from moving freely and holding meetings at factories and businesses to promote the event.
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