ZIMBABWE: Police used teargas to break up a riot in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo yesterday after pro-government militias staged attacks in a populous township and met resistance from residents.
The riot began around 8:00 a.m. in Sizenda township, where residents had teamed up to stone the militia base at a community hall in retaliation for militia attacks during the night on homes in the neighbourhood, witnesses said.
"When they went there, there were two guys within the militia armed with AK-47 rifles, which they fired into the air," one witness said.
"But they kept on stoning the hall, which is when the riot police came out and started firing teargas."
The militia had marched through Sizenda two weeks ago, demanding that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) pay them 18,000 Zimbabwean dollars (€372).
Their raids were apparently in frustration at not receiving the money and losing the food supplies that had been given to them during the period around Zimbabwe's hotly contested March 9-11th presidential election.
Residents and at least 200 riot police staged running battles for more than four hours.
Residents blocked off the main roads in the township and stoned cars that refused to turn around and leave.
Police fired teargas at random in Sizenda and managed to break up the riot and dismantle the roadblocks by 12:30 pm.
After the riot died down, the militia remained huddled inside the community hall.
"It looks like they are now scared even to go outside and see what is going on," one witness said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government's crackdown on free speech, which has long targeted journalists, in recent weeks has expanded to include a cafe, a poet, and meetings with diplomats, aid agencies and unions. Only two days after President Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election, he enacted a tough new media law, which together with a security law passed in January, have become the two main tools in authorities' whittling away at free speech rights.
Journalists remain a favourite target. Police have detained Peta Thornycroft, a correspondent for Britain's Daily Telegraph, since Wednesday on accusations of "publishing false statements likely to be prejudicial to state security" and "incitement to public violence."
Information Minister Mr Jonathan Moyo on Wednesday threatened to prosecute the nation's only independent daily, the Daily News.
He was referring to an article reporting an international call for fresh elections.
Both those cases have drawn criticism from press rights watchdogs, including the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, the World Association of Newspapers, and the Vienna-based International Press Institute.
But police efforts to curb free speech have moved beyond journalists.
The Book Cafe, a restaurant and book store in Harare, was told by police that it could no longer host political debates unless the event was cleared with police first.
"We have been holding these political discussions every Thursday, and our speakers have included government officials," the cafe's director said in a statement from the Media Institute of Southern Africa .
"We no longer know what is freedom of expression, but to be frank, The Book Cafe was holding political discussions and workshops in which top ZANU-PF officials like Professor Jonathan Moyo . . . were included.
"Those in and seen as the opposition were also included in the discussions," the statement said.
The owners said they would comply with the order.