Armed riot police storm opposition HQ in Mugabe's brutal crackdown
Published Date: 26 April 2008
By Jane Fields
In Mutare HEAVILY-ARMED riot police stormed the headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Harare yesterday, as the post-election crackdown by Robert Mugabe, the country's president, took a new and brutal turn.
Scores of people were beaten and arrested, with 200-300 people taken away, the MDC claimed. They included injured campaign workers who had taken refuge at the offices after being attacked, and pregnant women and children.
Police also ransacked the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), an independent electoral watchdog, and seized material on vote counting from both offices.
ZESN was one of the first organisations to announce that Mr Mugabe, 84, had lost the first round of presidential elections on 29 March to Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC.
Noel Kututwa, chairman of the ZESN, and his deputy, Rindai Chipfunde-Vavawere, were both in hiding yesterday.
Mr Kututwa said: "(The police] said they were looking for subversive material likely to overthrow (the] government using unconstitutional means."
The MDC claims at least ten of its supporters have been killed since the election, while the group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has reported dozens of electoral officials have been arrested for allegedly "cheating" Mr Mugabe of votes...
news.scotsman.com |
