Posted on 06/03/2003 4:29:27 AM PDT by Clive
Harare - Zimbabwean riot police forcibly cleared the streets of the capital Harare on the first day of an opposition-led strike to protest at the policies of the government of President Robert Mugabe, as ruling party militias ran amok and fear gripped the city.
Police fired teargas in one of Harare's main streets and forced dozens of people to lie flat on the pavement, kicking them and beating them with batons and whips, an AFP reporter witnessed.
On the steps of a five-star hotel in the city centre, militant members of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF brutally assaulted an unnamed person.
They then attacked cars belonging to whites, one belonging to Topper Whitehead, an official from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) trying to film the assault. Whitehead later said that two militants had jumped onto the back of his car and tried to stab him through the rear window with a bayonet. He managed to shake off the pair.
The Zimbabwe government had earlier promised peace and security for citizens, and reported it was safe for people to travel into Harare city centre on the day the opposition had called for protests against Mugabe's regime.
Earlier the streets were calm, but tensions were high in the capital by early afternoon, as scores of heavily armed riot police packed the city centre and armoured cars patrolled the central business district.
Bands of youth militia, products of the government-run national youth service, patrolled the streets dressed in military fatigues. Pedestrians hurried out of the city centre. "We're actually warning people not to go out of the hotel," a worker at the hotel where the attack took place, told AFP.
There were also reports of unrest in some of the capital's high density suburbs. At least one person was shot in the leg, allegedly by police, in Highfield, the low income suburb where Mugabe hails from, when police tried to break up a group of people preparing to march into the centre of the capital.
The MDC had called for a week of democracy marches and strikes in protest against the government, which they blame for Zimbabwe's deepening economic and social hardships. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and charged with defying a court order obtained by the government to bar the mass action. The opposition leader had vowed to lead the protests.
The stayaway shut down most shops and businesses in the capital on Monday, and factories were also closed.
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