Zimbabweans brace for strike protests
Hundreds of police were deployed in the Zimbabwean capital Harare today and army units were reportedly on standby before a two-day strike called by critics of President Robert Mugabe to protest his clampdown on street traders and slum dwellers.
The protest starting today is meant to coincide with the state’s opening of parliament, at which the 81-year-old president is due to make a major policy statement. This is expected to include his plans to create a 65-seat Senate - thus extending his pool of political patronage – and to cancel all private land titles, thus blocking further court action by 5,000 white farmers evicted from their land by ruling party militants.
