OneWorld.net (U.S.)

In an exclusive, on-the-spot report for OneWorld, a Zimbabwean journalist - who must remain anonymous to protect his safety - reports on yesterday's police clampdown in Harare in which a teenager was killed and scores of prominent civil society leaders were beaten and arrested.

What was supposed to be a prayer rally to pray for Zimbabwe, a country with an inflation rate of over 1,700% and 80% unemployment, ended up in bloodshed yesterday when police went on a rampage and opened fire, killing a teenager and injuring several others in Harare. The President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, was briefly taken to the central police station were he waited, crumpled in pain, while the police made preparations to take him to a detention camp. His face was so swollen from the beating that he was scarcely recognisable. Several prominent figures, including the National Constitutional Assembly spokesperson, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, Grace Kwinji, Tendai Biti and Nelson Chamisa, were also visibly in need of medical attention, which, according to Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, they were denied.

Another of those beaten and arrested was Sekesai Holland, a "mother figure" in the protest movement. She was helped into a police truck by fellow activists in an attempt to protect her from further beating.

Journalists were not spared. Photojournalist Tsvangirai Mkwazhi and broadcaster Tendai Musiyazviriyo were among 50 or so other male and female reporters and photographers forced to lie face down in a jumbled heap as they were carted off in a police truck. The official accreditation - which they paid in precious US dollars - could not save them.

Lawyers Otto Saki and Irene Petras of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and Morgan Tsvingirai’s lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, were among those desperately trying to protect their clients in the central police station.

The arrested civil society leaders - many with bloody faces - were seen waiting at the police station for the next move: probably to the Goromonzi detention camp where they can expect harsh treatment.

Teargas covered the scene of the rally, the city's Highfields district - known as the cradle of the independence movement. Police also used batons. Commuter buses were stopped and passengers asked to produce their identification cards and to give their addresses. Police told bus conductors and drivers to roll on the ground, a common army drill. The police also harassed girls wearing jeans.

The heavy police presence prevented soccer fans from getting to a match at the adjacent Gwanzura stadium. People, even religious leaders, were beaten indiscriminately.

The riots spread to Chitungwiza and Mabvuku. I heard many people saying they were tired of conditions in the country and wanted an alternative. Many police, too, are tired of the demonstrations that keep them at work almost every weekend. To avoid being seen as supporters of the government, many officers have stopped wearing their uniforms on the way to work - donning them only when they arrive at the police stattions. The US government's demand for the immediate release of civil society leaders and victims of the government’s brutality is a welcome development. It is a sorry sight for Zimbabwe but we pray that freedom will come.