Zimbabwe strike shuts down capital

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Businesses and factories across Zimbabwe were closed for a second day of a general strike over massive fuel prices rises.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which spearheaded the action, said nearly all banks and factories in the capital shut their doors, although some food stores remained open.

"So far we are satisfied with the way things have gone and we believe the response to the strike call is now well over 95 percent," said ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo.

First reports showed that there was an even wider response to the strike call outside Harare, Matombo told Reuters.

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.

Riot police have been patrolling townships in major cities, the government having promised to protect workers who ignore the action that is putting pressure on an already ailing economy.

Journalist Bob Coen told CNN that the strike had been "largely peaceful" with a few isolated incidents.

On Tuesday two bread delivery trucks were attacked and looted by angry youths while there were reports on Wednesday of the army beating up some youths, Coen said.

Three journalists arrested while covering the strike on Tuesday have now been released without charge.

The Associated Press Television News cameraman, photographer for the independent Daily News newspaper and reporter for the independent Zimbabwe Standard newspapers said they were forced to spend the night in filthy, overcrowded cells.

The Associated Press said officials at the Attorney General's office had ruled there was no evidence to support accusations with the men's lawyer Innocent Chagonda calling their detention "most unusual and unwarranted."

"In all my years in practice, I have seen nothing like it. The charges were unsustainable from the start, and the state obviously agrees" by releasing them, AP quoted Chagonda as saying.

But Reuters reported the police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as saying that the force was still pursuing action against the men.

"We will proceed by summons. There are still some investigations which we need to complete," he told Reuters.

Matombo said the ZCTU's General Council would meet to review the strike action later in the week and he warned that more strikes would follow if the government refused to cut fuel prices.

On the other side of the issue, self-styled war veterans who stand firmly behind Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party have threatened to evict foreign companies that shut down 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.