Zimbabwean churchmen arrested for protesting

Brian Kagoro, an official the reform group Crisis in Zimbabwe said the representatives of the multi-denominational National Pastors Conference were arrested by riot police while waiting to hand in their petition.

He said they were accused of holding an illegal protest under the Public Order and Security Act, the legislation they were protesting against, and taken to Harare’s Central Police Station.

Earlier, police questioned a Roman Catholic archbishop, accusing him of bringing opposition politics into his cathedral.

Archbishop Pius Ncube officiated at “prayers for peace” service at the St Mary’s Cathedral in Bulawayo yesterday.

Victims of alleged police assaults and torture spoke at the service. A police detail posted outside the cathedral watched participants enter and leave.

Ncube said two plain clothes police officers questioned him at the cathedral office today after he refused to meet them after the service.

“They said they did not expect issues of a political nature to be brought to church. They were saying it antagonises people” and the church should protect the government, he said.

Ncube said worshippers had described experiences of assault and torture in police cells by Central Intelligence Organisation agents and ruling party militia.

He told police “you can’t separate issues of food, shelter and torture” from church worship.

“I am not going to protect a government that has abused people’s rights flagrantly and for no reason. People have been killed and those who killed are running scot free on the streets because they acted on behalf of the government,” Ncube said.

Police also told him they were “unhappy” about coverage of the service by photographers and news crews in Bulawayo for today’s World Cup cricket match between Zimbabwe and Holland.