[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Tsvangirai arrested, released; but can MDC march now?

[Patrick Bond]

 Reuters, 22 January

Zimbabwe police release opposition leader

MacDonald Dzirutwe

Harare - Police released Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan 
Tsvangirai hours after taking him away in the middle of the night for 
questioning about a demonstration planned for later on Wednesday, his 
lawyer said. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) planned 
the march to press veteran President Robert Mugabe for a new 
Constitution to guarantee parliamentary and presidential elections due 
in March are free and fair. "He has been released without charge. The 
police wanted to know what he is planning to do today [Wednesday]," 
lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Reuters by telephone. MDC secretary general 
Tendai Biti told Reuters that Tsvangirai was picked up at 4am from his 
home in a suburb of Harare by plain-clothes officers. He was released 
about four hours later. Muchadehama said police also picked up another 
MDC leader, Dennis Murira, who was also released later. Mugabe has been 
in power since independence from Britain in 1980 and critics say he has 
used tough security laws to keep his opponents in check. Mugabe denies 
the charge. The MDC launched a legal challenge on Tuesday to a police 
ban on the march. Tsvangirai was last arrested in March 2007 along with 
dozens of opposition officials ahead of another planned march. He says 
police beat him up in custody but they deny this.

The police had initially granted permission for Wednesday's march, which 
the MDC also called to protest against a crumbling economy blamed on 
government mismanagement as well as to press for a new Constitution. A 
Harare magistrate's court was expected to hear an application at 8am GMT 
on Wednesday on overturning the ban, which police say was prompted by 
fears the demonstration would degenerate into violence and looting. 
Witnesses said armed riot police had been deployed on Tuesday night in 
the volatile townships of Highfield and Budiriro and set up road blocks 
on streets into the city centre. A Reuters correspondent saw police 
combing a park where the MDC planned to assemble for the march in 
central Harare at 9.15am GMT. The police were armed with shotguns, 
teargas canons and batons and conducted random searches on passers-by. 
Police also deployed at various strategic venues in central Harare, 
searching cars for weapons. Zimbabweans have tended to shy away from 
demonstrations in recent years, mainly from fear of a heavy-handed 
response by security forces and were on Wednesday busy queuing for cash 
at banks while many went about their normal business.

 From Reuters, 23 January

MDC leaders challenge police ban

Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition launched a legal challenge to a 
police ban on a march against the government of President Robert Mugabe 
that it has planned for Wednesday. The police had initially allowed the 
march, which the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called to protest 
against a crumbling economy blamed on government mismanagement, and to 
press for a new constitution that would guarantee that elections due in 
March are free and fair. On Tuesday, MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama said 
the Harare magistrate's court would on Wednesday hear an application to 
overturn the ban, which police say was prompted by fears the 
demonstration would degenerate into violence and looting. "We are making 
an appeal against the regulatory authorities' decision to prohibit the 
march. We filed the application in terms of the new Public Order and 
Security Act," Muchadehama told Reuters. Zimbabwe has adopted changes to 
its security laws - seen by critics as aimed at suppressing Mugabe's 
opponents - to compel police to spell out their reasons for refusing a 
political party the right to hold a public meeting. Muchadehama said 
there was nothing legally standing in the way of Wednesday's planned 
march, which police had originally allowed to start at 11.15am. MDC 
officials were not reachable for comment on Tuesday. In remarks 
broadcast on state television, police spokesman Assistant Commissioner 
Wayne Bvudzijena said the police would be out in full force on Tuesday 
to stop the march. Zimbabweans have tended to shy away from 
demonstrations in recent years, mainly from fear of a heavy-handed 
response by security forces.