Mar 12, 2007, 22:47 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwean police beat up opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai so badly he had to be taken to the hospital, an opposition official claimed Monday.
Tsvangirai and dozens of other civic and political leaders were arrested and detained Sunday after they tried to defy a police ban on rallies and hold a prayer meeting in the restive Highfield suburb.
Skirmishes broke out between police and suspected opposition activists in the wake of the thwarted rally. At least one MDC member, Gift Tandare, a father of three, was shot dead by police.
Tsvangirai, the opposition leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), sustained serious head injuries in police custody and was taken to hospital early Monday, in what Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, MDC's secretary for international relations, said amounted to an attempted assassination.
'They kept him away from medical attention until this morning,' Mukonoweshuro told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview.
Ambassadors from several European Union countries were trying to trace the whereabouts of Tsvangirai and other opposition supporters after a heavy-handed crackdown on the political opposition over the weekend, Swedish Ambassador Sten Rylander said.
In an interview with Swedish radio, Rylander said he and other EU colleagues had divided themselves into groups and visited various police stations in the capital Harare.
'We are concerned about Morgan Tsvangirai,' Rylander said, adding the diplomats had not met the opposition leader.
By visiting the police stations, the diplomats hoped to prevent police from assaulting members of the opposition, Rylander said.
The Spanish ambassdaor to Zimbabwe saw Lovemore Madhuku of the opposition National Constitutional Assembly, who had a broken arm and had sustained a head injury, Rylander said.
Tensions remained high Monday in Harare, where armed riot police stood in the main shopping street.
Other activists, including MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa and Combined Harare Residents Association chairman Mike Davies had been tortured and assaulted while in police custody, the coalition said.
Police have not confirmed the claims.
Lawyers were meanwhile trying to secure the release of Tsvangirai, the MDC spokesman said. But Mukonoweshuro said he did not expect Tsvangirai to be brought to court soon.
Observers said it appeared the police were trying to play delaying tactics to ensure Tsvangirai's wounds are not as glaring when he appears publicly as they are at present.
The US State Department also condemned the 'brutal and unwarranted actions of the government of Zimbabwe' in attacking citizens.
'We hold President Robert Mugabe and the government of Zimbabwe accountable for the government's actions today, and for the safety and well-being of those in custody,' spokesman Sean McCormack said in the statement. 'We call for the immediate release of those detained, and for the provision of medical treatment for those injured.'
South Africa's foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told dpa: 'We have noted the development in Zimbabwe. Matters of mutual concern are discussed within the existing diplomatic mechanism between South Africa and Zimbabwe.'
South Africa's opposition leader Tony Leon on Monday called on President Thabo Mbeki to review his policy towards Zimbabwe in the wake of a bloody crackdown on the political opposition in Harare.
'The arrest and detention...(of) Tsvangirai should serve as a final wake-up call to President Mbeki that he simply cannot afford (to) continue with a business-as-usual approach to... the growing crisis in Zimbabwe,' Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Leon said.
'We have noted the development in Zimbabwe,' the foreign ministry in Pretoria said, adding that 'matters of mutual concern are discussed within the existing diplomatic mechanism between South Africa and Zimbabwe.'
By contrast, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which forms part of the ANC-led governing alliance, condemned the police action in Harare as typical of 'the rogue nature of the regime' of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and called for the immediate release of the MDC activists.
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