Police disrupt funeral

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During the funeral service, a truck-load of policemen, some of them carrying guns and tear-gas canisters, arrived and ordered the mourners to remove their party regalia and stop shouting party slogans.

Tsvangirai was in the process of thanking the people for sharing the loss of his father with him and his family. He carried on talking and said he did not know what business the police had coming there. However he welcomed them, as they were supposed to be “everybody’s” police.

The police demanded to know why official permission to hold a “meeting” had not been sought.

An angry exchange took place between some members of parliament and the police, who eventually backed down when they could not explain which section of the Public Order and Security Act had been violated. Tsvangirai was visibly upset by the invasion of his family’s privacy. – Own correspondent