Police block Tsvangirai from rally
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police blocked opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from reaching a rally on Friday in his campaign ahead of a presidential run-off vote later this month, a Reuters photographer said.
Tsvangirai was stopped from reaching a rally outside Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, after police put up a roadblock. His Movement for Democratic Change party accuses President Robert Mugabe of trying to sabotage his campaign.
"The police set up a roadblock on the way to How Mine, where Tsvangirai was heading as part of his campaign tour in Matabeleland," the photographer said.
Tsvangirai was not detained as he was earlier this week for several hours. There was no immediate comment from police.
The MDC leader postponed plans to attend the rally and continued to another town where he went on a walking tour at a shopping centre, meeting and talking to residents.
His party said earlier on Friday that harassment of diplomats and aid groups showed Mugabe's government would fail to respect the rule of law during the June 27 presidential election run-off.
The accusation by Tendai Biti, secretary general of the MDC, came a day after police detained U.S. and British diplomats outside Harare and relief agencies were barred from doing work in the country.
"It is almost as if the regime is sending out a message to the region, to the international community that it doesn't care, that it has no respect for life, it has no respect for the rule of law," Biti said in a presentation at the World Economic Forum for Africa in Cape Town.
"The regime is increasing the decibels of insanity."
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a March 29 election but failed to win the majority needed to avoid a second ballot. Tsvangirai was held and questioned by police for eight hours earlier this week while campaigning.
(Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Paul Simao and Matthew Tostevin)
Zimbabwe ignores world opinion, rule of law - MDC
Police block Tsvangirai from rally
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police blocked opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from reaching a rally on Friday in his campaign ahead of a presidential run-off vote later this month, a Reuters photographer said.
Tsvangirai was stopped from reaching a rally outside Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, after police put up a roadblock. His Movement for Democratic Change party accuses President Robert Mugabe of trying to sabotage his campaign.
"The police set up a roadblock on the way to How Mine, where Tsvangirai was heading as part of his campaign tour in Matabeleland," the photographer said.
Tsvangirai was not detained as he was earlier this week for several hours. There was no immediate comment from police.
The MDC leader postponed plans to attend the rally and continued to another town where he went on a walking tour at a shopping centre, meeting and talking to residents.
His party said earlier on Friday that harassment of diplomats and aid groups showed Mugabe's government would fail to respect the rule of law during the June 27 presidential election run-off.
The accusation by Tendai Biti, secretary general of the MDC, came a day after police detained U.S. and British diplomats outside Harare and relief agencies were barred from doing work in the country.
"It is almost as if the regime is sending out a message to the region, to the international community that it doesn't care, that it has no respect for life, it has no respect for the rule of law," Biti said in a presentation at the World Economic Forum for Africa in Cape Town.
"The regime is increasing the decibels of insanity."
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a March 29 election but failed to win the majority needed to avoid a second ballot. Tsvangirai was held and questioned by police for eight hours earlier this week while campaigning.
(Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Paul Simao and Matthew Tostevin)
