Harare - The arrests and alleged beatings of Zimbabwean opposition party supporters continued on Thursday as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) announced that Friday was "D-Day" for its supporters to "rise up" against President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF government.
An MDC official said scores of party sympathisers and activists had been beaten in the suburb of Highfield in Harare late on Wednesday. In Bulawayo, the party said about 40 activists were arrested. Police put the figure at 27.
The claim by the opposition party came on the fourth day of mass action, including job stayaways and democracy marches.
In private press advertisements, the MDC urged people to defy government warnings and take to the streets in their millions on Friday for what it promised would be the "D-Day" of its week-long protests.
"This is the moment you have been waiting for. Tomorrow, Friday June 6, 2003 is
D-Day," the MDC said on the penultimate day of protests, dubbed the "final push".
In a full-page advertisement, it called on supporters not to be intimidated. "Don't be afraid. No force is stronger than you. Victory is in sight."
Pearson Mungofa, the MDC representative for Highfield, said Zanu-PF supporters wearing army uniforms had carried out the assaults on Wednesday night.
A police statement said 10 suspected MDC activists had been arrested in the Harare suburb of Budiriro "for organising and inciting public violence".
One person was seriously injured at Victoria Falls when a bus was stoned on Wednesday night in a "politically motivated attack", police said.
In calling the protests, the MDC said it hoped they would oust Mugabe or at least compel him to discuss the country's economic, political and social problems with the opposition.
Street marches failed to take off on Monday because security forces descended on the would-be protesters with teargas, dogs, batons and live ammunition.
Thursday's fresh call to action came as most businesses remained closed, with less than half the shops open in central Harare.
But police and the army maintained a heavy presence. Military helicopters hovered over the capital for most of the morning.
Mugabe has said his security forces acted in the interests of peace and stability. "It is sad when we are forced as a government to use teargas against our own youth who are being misled, but we have to do it in the interests of peace and security," he told SABC television news.
In Bulawayo, a news correspondent estimated that one shop in four and almost all banks were open on Thursday. Many banks were reportedly ordered to open by the police, although some did not have cash to give to clients.
The high court last weekend declared the MDC mass action illegal and warned that demonstrators would face "the full wrath of the law".
Meanwhile, civil rights groups have condemned the violence.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said it was "disgusted with the level of harassment, intimidation and brutality".
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights also issued a statement condemning the violence.