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HARARE - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was briefly detained by police at his party headquarters today and 10 other activists were arrested.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had not been arrested. Ten MDC officials were arrested on suspicion of being connected with a spate of petrol bombings.
Tsvangirai had been badly beaten after an earlier police crackdown this month, opposition spokesmen have said.
A witness told Reuters he had seen Tsvangirai leaving his offices after the police had left on Wednesday.
"I would like to put it on record that Tsvangirai was never arrested," Bvudzijena told journalists.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was due to arrive in Tanzania later on Wednesday for a regional summit to address the escalating political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
The summit comes more than two weeks after dozens of opposition members, including Tsvangirai, were arrested and reportedly beaten after an aborted rally against Mugabe and his government.
Dozens of armed riot police surrounded the MDC main office in Harare, blocking nearby roads and preventing anyone from entering. An armoured vehicle, two empty buses and a truck were parked outside.
The MDC leadership had been due to hold a news conference at the office.
Bvudzijena said the raid was part of an operation targeted at suspects involved in recent petrol bombing incidents around the country that police blame on MDC activists.
The police showed journalists two revolvers, dynamite and detonators, which they said were seized at the home of an MDC activist and were linked to the petrol bombings.
"The terrorist acts we are seeing are how civil wars start in any part of the world and this is how a country descends into anarchy," said Bvudzijena.
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said it was unclear whether the MDC officials had been transferred into police custody. "Their phones are not being answered so we don't know if they are still there or at the central police station," he told Reuters.
Witnesses said police had taken at least two computer monitors and cardboard boxes while a handful of people were herded into one bus from the building.
The crackdown on the opposition drew international protests and renewed calls for African nations to tackle Mugabe's 27-year rule over Zimbabwe, which faces its worst economic crisis in decades along with escalating political tensions.
- REUTERS
