At least 41 cricket supporters were preparing on Monday to spend their fourth night in jail in the western city of Bulawayo following Zimbabwe’s World Cup match against Holland, relatives of the arrested people said.
They were arrested on Friday outside the grounds of Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo after a peaceful demonstration during the match to protest against the government of President Robert Mugabe. The cricket supporters in Bulawayo were among nearly 200 people arrested by police since Friday, including 26 supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change who on Sunday were
illegally arrested and then assaulted by soldiers guarding Mugabe’s official residence in Harare.
”The lawyers having been trying all day to get them to court so they can be released, but it looks like they are not going to let them go until after (Tuesday’s) game against Pakistan,” said the wife of one of the men in the cells. She asked not to be named. – Sapa-DPA