More political unrest reported

Zimbabwean police arrested 31 members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Harare on Thursday, and nine people were injured in the melee, the opposition party said. "Four truckloads with an unspecified number of police officers descended on the premises and started beating up people at random, while others surrounded the building where about 500 MDC supporters were undergoing polling agent training," the MDC said in a statement. The MDC said the 31 officials from the party's Harare provincial office were picked up as the police judged the meeting an illegal gathering under the terms of Zimbabwe's new public order law. The police were not available for comment, and international election observers could not at the time confirm the incident. Meanwhile, the MDC has begun legal action in Australia over the broadcasting of a secretly filmed videotape that appeared to show party leader Morgan Tsvangirai discussing the elimination of President Robert Mugabe. The MDC has described the film as "malicious propaganda" and an attempt to smear Tsvangirai before the 9-10 March presidential election. Zimbabwe's Vice President Joseph Msika on Thursday denied the government had charged Tsvangirai with treason over the alleged plot to kill Mugabe. "No treason charge has been levelled against him by the government, but by the press," Msika said after meeting with South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma, news reports said. However, MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe insisted Tsvangirai had been charged with treason, when he was warned and cautioned by the police on Monday. He told IRIN that the government's denial was related to this weekend's Commonwealth heads of state meeting in Australia, and Harare's alleged desire to improved its international image. Zuma arrived in Zimbabwe for talks with Mugabe and to check conditions for a free and fair election, a statement said. He did not meet with the MDC "because it was a government-to-government visit", a spokesperson told IRIN. Based on the responses he had received from the authorities, Zuma was "confident" that legitimate polls could be held. In a related development, Zimbabwe's Supreme Court rejected revised electoral laws on Wednesday, which news reports said dealt a blow to the government. In a second setback, a High Court judge also delayed the implementation of recently passed citizenship rules that had disqualified tens of thousands of voters. The Supreme Court cancelled the General Laws Amendment Act that had given state election officers sweeping powers and contained restrictions on vote monitoring, identity requirements for voters, campaigning and voter education. Because the act was struck down by a majority in the Supreme Court, the government cannot appeal against the judgment. However, Mugabe could use his presidential powers to override the Supreme Court, as he has done in the past.