Zimbabwe strike tensions rise

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A general strike over a massive fuel prices rises in Zimbabwe is entering its second day, in defiance of a government ban and amid growing tension.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions spokesman Nomore Sibanda told Reuters that it estimated 70 percent of unionised industries were not operating on Tuesday and that it expected the ranks to swell on Wednesday.

"People are realising the importance of registering and demonstrating their protest with the stay-away, especially in the face of intimidation," he was quoted as saying.

The ZCTU -- Zimbabwe's main labour federation -- called the strike to protest against a fuel price hike of nearly 70 percent imposed by the government on June 12.

The government declared the strike illegal and has accused the unions -- closely allied with the main opposition Movement for Democratic Movement (MDC) -- of political manoeuvring.

On the first day of the two-day action, banks, shops, post offices and factories were shut with parking lots in the industrial district in south Harare deserted.

The western city of Bulawayo was nearly completely shutdown, according to the state-controlled Zimbabwe News Agency.

Riot police have been patrolling townships in major cities, the government having promised to protect workers who ignore the action, said Reuters.

Reuters reported police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as telling Zimbabwe state television that two hours were petrol bombed, causing two deaths and at least four injuries, but it was not clear whether the incident was related to the strike.

Police said five arrests had been made over an attack on bakery vans in a Harare with three journalists also detained.

The Associated Press Television News, Daily News and Zimbabwe Standard reporters were accused by police of interfering with the investigation of the van attacks.

The journalists deny committing any offence and refused to pay fines that would have entitled them to immediate release, lawyer Innocent Chagonda was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Self-styled war veterans who stand firmly behind Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party have threatened to evict foreign companies that shut during the strike.

Militant leader Joseph Chinotimba said his group has been noting the names of closed businesses and if the owners were not Zimbabweans "we will deal with them. These people must leave the country within a day. We are going to evacuate them within a day," a radio report quoted him as saying.

War veterans organisations have led the sometimes violent occupations of more than 1,700 white-owned farms in the past year.

Political tensions having run high since the recent emergence of the MDC as a serious challenger to Mugabe, who assumed power in 1980 when the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain.

A violent 2000 general election campaign -- in which MDC made significant gains -- left at least 31 people dead.

Zimbabwe is currently in the grip of its worst economic crisis since independence from British rule with unemployment at more than 60 percent and inflation rocketing to over 70 percent.