Zimbabwe police arrest hundreds in opposition MDC
The party's headquarters are raided as a postelection security crackdown intensifies. An election monitoring group is also targeted.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Zimbabwe's security crackdown intensified Friday as riot police raided the opposition movement's headquarters in the capital city of Harare, arresting hundreds of people, including many rural activists and their families who had fled recent violence in their home districts.
Opposition officials said more than 200 armed riot police raided the building and arrested about 300 people. Police said they had a warrant to search for "suspicious individuals."
Among those arrested were victims of recent severe beatings as well as women and children, according to opposition officials and witnesses.
Police on Friday also raided the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, an independent election monitoring group that last month released a projection based on 5% of the presidential vote that showed President Robert Mugabe losing to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
No arrests were reported in the raid, which stemmed from a warrant to search for "subversive material likely to overthrow the government using unconstitutional means," the Associated Press reported.
Police seized documents and computers from the election group's offices and those of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Almost a month after the vote, official presidential election results have yet to be released. The ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament but has demanded a recount of 23 seats, which is underway. So far, recounts on three seats have confirmed the original results.
The United Nations Security Council will be briefed on the Zimbabwe situation next week, said South Africa's U.N. ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo.
It was not immediately clear how many MDC officials were arrested in the party headquarters raid. Many MDC officials have been in hiding since last week and were not at the offices when the raid occurred, said several officials and activists, who spoke by phone. But party spokesman Nelson Chamisa denied that any party officials were in hiding and said he was present during the raid.
Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told AP that authorities were searching for people responsible for crimes committed in rural areas. He said he could not confirm how many arrests were made.
Rural MDC activists have been forced to flee their homes in recent weeks as Zimbabwe's military, backed by police, war veterans and youth militias, have launched a campaign against opposition supporters. Worst hit have been Mashonaland and Manicaland, which swung their support from ZANU-PF to the MDC.
