Posted on March 28th, 2007 at 9:12 am by aaron
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) — Zimbabwe police stormed the main opposition party’s headquarters and arrested its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Wednesday, as African leaders gathered in Tanzania to debate Zimbabwe’s escalating political crisis.
Tsvangirai, who opposition officials say was badly beaten during an earlier police crackdown this month, was among a number of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials held when heavily armed riot police entered the party’s Harare offices, the MDC said.
The arrests brought immediate condemnation from Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe, and from the European Union.
The MDC said Tsvangirai had been due to hold a news conference “on the escalating and systemic campaign of violence and intimidation” by President Robert Mugabe’s government.
