About 80 young activists belonging to Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were arrested on Sunday for public order offences in further moves against the party since the re-election of President Robert Mugabe in March.
The activists were arrested at MDC party headquarters here after initially intending to hold a demonstration in a park in the centre of the capital to mark African Child’s Day.
They had also wished to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the killing of young blacks in the Johannesburg township of Soweto by police from South Africa’s apartheid regime.
With police objecting to the park location for the gathering, the protesters had then gone to party headquarters on the advice of leaders from the MDC’s youth wing.
Following Mugabe’s controversial re-election in March when he defeated MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition has often attempted to organise demonstrations against the government.
However, on each occasion, the demonstrations have been banned by police. – AFP