Zimbabwe: police break up civil rights march
Heavily armed riot police dispersed a rally in Harare on Monday. Representatives from Catholic and Protestant churches, trade unions and student groups were scattered by police wielding batons, when they gathered for the march, organised by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). Protest marches were also broken up by riot police in the cities of Bulawayo and Gweru. The NCA , a coalition of church and civic groups, was calling for a reduction in the powers of President Mugabe and his government, after an opposition party member was beheaded in front of her children. Brandina Tadyanemhandu, who belonged to the Movement for Democratic Change, was attacked by a group of 20 members of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. They also burnt down her home said a spokesman. Her son was killed last year, in what is widely believed to have been a politically-motivated murder. The leader of the NCA, law professor Lovemore Madhuku, was arrested on Monday afternoon and has not been seen since.