News summary on Zim

The latest news is that the repression of opposition leaders is continuing in Zimbabwe.

The latest atrocity was the shooting of two activists at the funeral of Gift Tandare, who was killed by police at last week's prayer rally.

The government also raided the offices of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), confiscated some pamphlets and beat four office workers.

Other news is that two police stationswere petrol bombed, leading to the injury of several police officers. One of the bombings was in the working class suburb of Harare, another in Gweru, a midland city.

In Kwe Kwe, police arrested the entire leadership of the MDC just before the start of an anti government rally, where according to an MDC spokesman, they were badly beaten.

This follows the arrest of the mayor of Gweru and others at the start of a protest there on Tuesday.

Whereas up to now, opposition to the regeime has been fragmented and sporadic, with the increasing collapse of the economy and lack of basic commodities, those who have not fled the country are starting to show their opposition despite the threats of arrest or worse.

As Zimpundit said in a BBC interview: "The last two weeks have been absolutely horrendous for this regime. They are now faced with a reality they never thought they'd face; people willingly walking into the paths of their vicious police. Now that they've tortured the MDC leadership this early in the game, the government has ironically upped the proverbial ante. Tsvangirai and Mutambara have nothing left to fear having been deep into the dredges of Zimbabwe's hellish torture system and come back from resolute to continue with their protest for a better Zimbabwe. In the past, people feared public demonstrations because they felt they were being used as political pawns by leaders who didn't want to endure the the wrath of the police on their own. Tsvangirai and Mutambara have, because of this incident gained more credibility with people. Look for this incident to spawn of more the same kind of protest. "