Harare - Zimbabwean police invoked a new security law to cancel a rally by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, even as the first European Union observers were due to arrive for the March presidential poll.
The move on Sunday followed an attack by Zanu-PF militants in Gokwe, about 180km west of Harare, on people organising a rally for the Movement for Democratic Change, said spokesperson Learnmore Jongwe.
At the same time, President Thabo Mbeki said in a television interview that the outcome of the election should be a true reflection of the will of the electorate, and dismissed suggestions that intimidation would influence the election .
MDC spokesman Jongwe said the Gokwe militants had chased away the organisers and then burned their car.
When Tsvangirai headed for Gokwe early yesterday, police had told the party that the rally had been cancelled because it was likely to degenerate into violence, Jongwe said.
A new security law enacted in mid-January gave police sweeping new powers to break up political meetings.
So far, 67 MDC rallies had either been cancelled by police or disrupted by ruling-party militants since the law took effect, he said.
"In essence, they are really doing this on behalf of Zanu-PF," Jongwe said. "Zanu-PF have not been subjected to similar concerns. Not a single Zanu-PF rally has been cancelled by police. Clearly the police force is being used to cancel our rallies."
Early on Sunday, police also searched the home of documentary film maker Edwina Spicer, whose son is an opposition activist, looking for "subversive films and material," according to their warrant.
Spicer's 17-year-old son Tawanda is Harare deputy youth secretary for the MDC.
He faces charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and assault in a case that the MDC has dismissed as government harassment of its members.
Meanwhile the first EU observers, led by Sweden's UN ambassador, Pierre Schori, were expected to arrive in Harare late on Sunday to prepare for the hotly contested polls.
The European Commission recommended on Friday that sanctions be imposed by Wednesday, in protest against Harare's attempts to exclude six EU states from the European observer mission for the election.
The sanctions would include a travel ban on Mugabe, his family and close associates, a freeze on any assets they might hold in EU states, and a suspension of longer-term development aid.
The EU also reserved the right to implement sanctions if journalists are prevented from covering the polls, or if the polling is judged not to have been free and fair.
But South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said yesterday: "It would be unfortunate if the EU decided to bring sanctions at this point in time, instead of working with the rest of us in trying to ensure those elections are free and fair."
Speaking on SABC television news, Mbeki said he did not think the election would result in "chaos".
"I am quite sure that the contestants (in the election) will accept the outcome." He believed the result would indeed be a true reflection of the will of the electorate. - Sapa