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Another 162 Arrested As Stayway Continues

The Daily News (Harare)
NEWS
June 4, 2003
Posted to the web June 4, 2003

By Staff Reporter

AT least 162 people were arrested around the country yesterday as State
security agents maintained a heavy presence in Zimbabwe's urban areas because
of a week-long mass action called by the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Tuesday's arrests brought the number of detentions since the mass action
started on Monday to more than 277, MDC officials and lawyers said yesterday.
They said 35 people were arrested in Gweru yesterday, five in Chinhoyi and 15
in Kwekwe. Another 11 were detained early yesterday morning as they attempted
to start demonstrations in Harare's high-density suburb of Budiriro.
About 380 people have been arrested in Harare and Chitungwiza since Monday, 150
of whom have been released.
In Mutare, 45 people were arrested yesterday, while 50 were detained in
Goromonzi.
The police yesterday also detained the MDC's Mashonaland West provincial
chairman, Silas Matamisa.
In Mutare, police descended on Mutare North legislator Giles Mutsekwa's
residence at around 4am, but the MDC member of Parliament refused to see them.
They demanded that he report to a local police station.
The MDC's Manicaland provincial chairman, Timothy Mubhawu, who was reported
missing on Monday, was also among those arrested this week.
MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishayi Muchauraya, told The Daily News: "The
police have launched a door-to-door manhunt for known MDC supporters and they
are harassing their families.
The situation is bad, but we are trying to regroup," said Muchauraya.
MDC legislators Tendai Biti and Tichaona Munyanyi, who were arrested on Monday,
were still in custody yesterday.
Armed State security agents maintained a heavy presence on the streets of most
city centres and high-density areas around the country.
Most shops and banks around the country remained closed, while the army and
police patrolled streets and maintained roadblocks on roads leading into city
centres.
In Kadoma and Harare's Southerton area, shop-owners were allegedly forced to
open their premises by recruits of the controversial national youth service
programme.
In Harare's Glen View suburb, where the police on Monday thwarted an attempt by
about 15 000 protesters to march into the city centre, MP Paul Madzore said the
local MDC leadership in Budiriro, Glen View, Glen Norah and Highfield was
holding meetings to organise more marches.
"After our attempt to march into the city was stopped yesterday (Monday), we
are holding a meeting to reorganise ourselves and to pick up from where we left
off. Our people are really determined," he said.
Most schools in Glen View and other Harare suburbs were open but schoolchildren
could be seen playing outside as most teachers had not reported for duty.
In central Harare, ZANU PF supporters believed to have been bused into the
capital city from surrounding rural areas roamed the streets and harassed
newspaper vendors selling copies of The Daily News. Some copies of the
newspaper were torn or burnt.
A group of ruling party supporters was however forced to flee in Harare's First
Street when angry members of the public intending to buy the newspaper
threatened to beat them up.
While the situation remained calm in Chitungwiza, police at Makoni shopping
centre were yesterday reported to be dispersing people at the shops and
patrolling the streets. There was no activity at the Chitungwiza Town Centre,
while few companies were open.
In the Midlands, the situation remained tense as soldiers and the police
intensified their street patrols. Security agents were deployed at strategic
government buildings, while large retail shops and banks remained closed.
Six Daily News vendors were assaulted by youths in Kwekwe and 195 copies of the
newspaper seized.
The youths carried the newspapers, valued at around $29 250, to the ZANU PF
offices in Kwekwe and destroyed them.
In Bulawayo, two cars were burnt when demonstrators turned violent, while in
Masvingo, most shops and major businesses were closed yesterday morning. The
main bus terminus at Mucheke was virtually deserted.
In Mucheke, however, shops were forced to open by soldiers and the police.

   

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