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Opposition forced to cancel rallies

    JOHANNESBURG

    The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was forced to cancel two election rallies on this week after thousands of independence war veterans surrounded the venues, media reports said on Wednesday. Zimbabweans are to vote in parliamentary elections on 24 and 25 June.

    A rally on Tuesday scheduled for the town of Murerwa, east of the capital, Harare, was abandoned after Tsvangirai was greeted by about 3,000 war veterans who were baying for his blood. An MDC spokesman was quoted as saying that a number of villagers who wanted to attend the rally were prevented from doing so by the veterans. “The mere presence of the war veterans made it impossible for the rally to take place,” the spokesman said.

    On Wednesday, Tsvangirai’s security prevented him from attending a rally in Mutoko, northeast of Harare after receiving reports that more than 2,000 war veterans had surrounded the venue.

    At the same time, a group of about 200 war veterans marched into the northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls on Tuesday and assaulted an MDC official organising a rally there, the reports added. The group reportedly tore down MDC posters and locked the gates to the stadium where the rally was to be held.

    The rally, which was to have been addressed by Gibson Sibanda, the vice-president of MDC, was postponed.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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