Authorities arrested Zimbabwe's opposition leader yesterday, vowing to crush the launch of anti-government demonstrations the opposition hopes will mark the most significant challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe's decades-long rule.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested at his home yesterday and accused of planning an illegal demonstration, said William Bango, an opposition official.
Police had come several hours before, around midnight, but left when they found Tsvangirai was not at home.
Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader, has become increasingly defiant in his calls for Zimbabweans to rise up against Mugabe and his policies which the opposition blames for sinking the country into economic and political disarray.
This opposition has called for a week of strikes and protests against the government began yesterday.
In Harare it appeared the strike was taking hold, with most shops, banks, and factories closed. Traffic was light, and only a few commuter buses were running.
Opposition officials said they were planning for street demonstrations later in the day.
It was not clear whether or not Tsvangirai would appear as scheduled in court later yesterday where he is standing trial for treason. The government says he was part of a plot to assassinate Mugabe, charges he and his fellow defendants -- two senior opposition officials -- deny.
As part of their crackdown against demonstrations, police set up roadblocks along all the main roads leading into the capital, Harare, and military helicopters swooped over the western city of Bulawayo. Both cities are considered opposition strongholds.
In Bulawayo, two lawmakers were arrested, accused of planning an illegal demonstration, opposition officials said.
Over the weekend the High Court declared the demonstrations illegal, but the opposition planned on filing an appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court yesterday.
State television, in its nightly news on Sunday, said demonstrations and strikes this week called by the main opposition party will be "met with the full wrath of the law."
It said ruling party youths loyal to the government would break up opposition street demonstrations and quoted Defense Minister Sidney Sekeramayi as saying "enough measures" were being taken to stop anti-government unrest.
"Our soil is very sacrosanct. We shall not allow it to be recolonized," Sekeramayi told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp.
The government has repeatedly accused Britain, the former colonial ruler, of funding the Movement for Democratic Change and opposition-backed labor unions to mount a campaign to oust Mugabe.
The television showed footage of troops and riot police being deployed in Harare and file footage of tear gas being fired at demonstrators in previous protests.
Government vehicles sped through Harare late on Sunday throwing out printed fliers urging Zimbabweans to ignore opposition calls for the protests, saying: "No to mass action. No to British puppets. Let the workers go to work, let the children go to school and let the banks and businesses remain open. Remain strong."
It was the first time the government distributed political fliers that littered the streets, with few being picked up by passers-by.
Armored vehicles and troop carriers headed into Harare on Sunday from their base at Inkomo barracks, 40km northwest of the capital.
State television quoted Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo as saying that business owners who supported the protests by shutting out their workers will have their operating licenses withdrawn and be forced to close.
"They are playing a risky game. They must be ready to shut permanently," he said.
The government's response to the opposition calls for protests across the country beginning yesterday was seen as an unusually forthright and a desperate effort, tinged with panic, to pre-empt the biggest challenge to its rule, analysts said.
The opposition says it wants Mugabe to negotiate on the nation's deepening political and economic crisis and agree to step down so new presidential elections can be held.
In weekend advertisements headed "Countdown to the final push," the opposition said: "Any thought of the dictator giving up power quietly is sheer delusion. The Zimbabweans story begins to unfold -- sadly, in our streets. We are now ready to go. The end is now in sight."
Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with record inflation of 269 percent and acute shortages of hard currency, local money, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports and food. Only international food aid has averted mass starvation.
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