Opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls.
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Opposition parties Monday said they will march against economic decline and misrule this Friday while the MDC-T youths said they would do so this Wednesday.
OPPOSITION political parties yesterday vowed to go ahead with their planned mega demonstration today to press for implementation of electoral reforms despite the police’s last-minute attempts to scuttle the protest citing security concerns. Opposition leader and head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, and former vice president Joice Mujuru will lead the demonstration, which they expect to draw thousands of supporters.
Zimbabwe’s home affairs minister says the government won’t tolerate any attempt to undermine peace in an apparent threat against a huge march by opposition parties on Friday.
“We have a moral duty to protect citizens of this country and people that do business so that they are not disrupted by malcontents”.
Recent unrest has been fuelled by an economic crisis, cash shortages and persistent high unemployment.
Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate’s court while riot police pursued the protesters and threatened journalists covering the rally.
“We are taking this matter to court to make sure police don’t disturb the peaceful demonstration and to make sure they provide adequate security to the demonstrators”, he said.
The controversial ruler said: “We have wasted the country’s money on these rats we call athletes”.
The running battles started early in the morning after police blocked demonstrators from gathering to begin their march to the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to deliver a petition demanding key electoral reforms.
Water cannons, frequently used to break up anti-government protests in the past two months, have been set up by police at strategic points in downtown Harare and truckloads of anti-riot police have been deployed. However, anti-Mugabe leaders warned that this would be the first of a series of protests.
Zimbabwe has seen a mounting tide of violent protests over the past weeks, with demonstrators calling on Mugabe to step down.
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The former Zanu PF politburo member appealed to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to ensure that the Zimbabwean issue was taken very seriously at its forthcoming meeting in Swaziland.
