Police on high alert over ‘flash-mob protests’

Undercover police in Zimbabwe have been ordered to halt a planned wave of countrywide demonstrations that have been classified as a threat to state security. The Sunday Times reports that they are targeting so-called flash-mob protests, led by Zanu-PF rebels, the MDC Alliance and trade unions, which are regarded as violating the Public Order and Security Act. Sources in the intelligence sector told the Sunday Times the state was monitoring every potential spark that might lead to ‘a disturbance of the peace’. Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said ‘we won't say what we are doing because it's now a national security matter’. Godfrey Tsenengamu, the suspended Zanu-PF Youth League political commissar, last week called for mass protests, saying ‘the situation has reached a defining moment’. Police last week arrested 34 people for allegedly joining an illegal gathering in Harare.

Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)