Police block Tsvangirai rally in Bulawayo

By Violet Gonda
23 February 2007

Security forces used their muscle power to unlawfully block another opposition gathering on Friday. Armed riot police sealed off the Large City Hall and blocked an interactive meeting between MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and residents of Bulawayo.

William Bango, Tsvangirai’s personal assistant, said this was despite the fact the Bulawayo District Police had granted the opposition party permission to hold the meeting, two weeks ago. He said: “Zimbabwe has become a criminal state run by a military oligarchy that is bent on protecting Mugabe at any cost and we are baffled as to why we cannot assemble as per constitutional requirement. We cannot meet and exchange ideas as normal citizens in a normal place.”

Morgan Tsvangirai had planned to deliver a speech launching the 2008 presidential campaign and the need for a new and democratic constitution. But his assistant said: “To our amazement Mr Tsvangirai called at the venue at 5pm and he was informed by some raggedly dressed police officer, whose deportment showed a lot of suffering on the surface because the dictatorship cannot sustain the cost of suppressing people, and this police officer simply said Mr Tsvangirai was not allowed to have the meeting.”

Bango said the MDC President’s view is that the country has been infected by a range of politically opportunistic infections which require police to make political decisions when they are supposed to act as a professional force.

At the time of going to press scores of people were still arriving at the venue by late afternoon and it was feared that there would be clashes as the atmosphere was said to be very tense.

Meanwhile Harare Lawyer Alex Muchadehama said that three senior Tsvangirai MDC officials who were arrested on Thursday in connection with last week’s protests were released Friday after appearing in court. Kambuzuma MP Willas Madzimure, deputy secretary for International Relations Grace Kwinjeh and deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma were released on Z$50 000 bail each. They were remanded to March 7.

There was a wave of arrests and disruptions of opposition gatherings last week when pressure groups held spontaneous demonstrations. In a desperate move to squash the growing mood of rebellion the regime responded by imposing a blanket ban on all political meetings.

But opposition groups have vowed to defy the bans. Tsvangirai said: “By arbitrarily banning peaceful political protest and rallies in Harare, the regime has for all practical purposes declared a State of Emergency. We are aware that more is coming. We are ready to resist. We remain undeterred by these desperate acts to deny our people their basic right to assemble and to express themselves.”