Harare — MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai was seized from his home by the police at dawn yesterday, setting the tone for a tense day of drama that cast a shadow over the inter-party talks and dimmed hopes for free and fair elections.

The MDC leader was picked up at about 4am. Ian Makone, the party's director of elections, and Denis Murira, another MDC official were simultaneously arrested. All were released four hours later without being charged.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Tsvangirai had been taken in to explain his intentions following utterances made by MDC officials at the weekend.

MDC officials, notably secretary-general Tendai Biti, had vowed at the weekend to continue with the procession despite a police order prohibiting it.

Tsvangirai's detention was the beginning of hostilities that escalated into street confrontations between opposition activists pressing for a levelled political playing field ahead of the March elections and heavily armed riot police.

The clashes erupted after magistrate Caroline Chigumba upheld a police ban on the march, following an MDC appeal against the ban.

Chigumba, however, ruled that the MDC rally at the Glamis Arena, Harare Show Grounds, should go ahead. Following the ruling, police wielding batons and firing teargas, engaged in running battles with supporters walking to the rally venue.

As police beat up and arrested MDC officials and supporters, it emerged that President Thabo Mbeki, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediator in Zimbabwe, had dispatched Sydney Mufamadi, his top dialogue facilitator, to Harare in a bid to ease tensions and revive the negotiation process.

Mufamadi was expected to arrive in Harare last night, while Mbeki who was in Zimbabwe a week ago, prepared to make another visit, his third to this country as peace-broker in as many months.

The SADC-backed talks have reached a stalemate over President Mugabe's rejection of opposition demands for a new constitution and the postponement of elections scheduled for March.

Speaking to supporters yesterday, Tsvangirai said the crackdown had shown that President Mugabe had no intention of honouring the "spirit" of the Mbeki-mediated dialogue.

As the MDC leader spoke, heavily armed riot police patrolled the venue and its surroundings, water cannons and other weapons at the ready.

Tsvangirai said President Mugabe had failed the test on whether or not he was ready to tolerate opposition, or to allow the forthcoming polls to be held under the SADC guidelines on the conducting of free and fair elections.

"This has been a litmus test on the sincerity of (President) Mugabe, Mbeki and SADC. Do they want to find a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis? I don't think so," he said.

"We as MDC refuse to legitimise an illegitimate regime that treats the leader of a lawful opposition as a criminal. We are saying (President) Mugabe has failed the test for a free and fair election. He does not accept that in Zimbabwe, there will be a change of government."

When the violence erupted, The Financial Gazette tailed a Mazda B1800 truck carrying plainclothes security agents, who went around the Harare central business district randomly picking up people - at one time dragging shoppers from a clothing store - and throwing them into the back of the vehicle.

Among those arrested was former Harare executive mayor Elias Mudzuri, national organising secretary of Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC. He was released after being fined $40 000 for being a "criminal nuisance".

Reporters saw several people with serious wounds, one with a deep cut on the head, and another bleeding from multiple facial lacerations.

Despite the violence, Tsvangirai said he would continue calling for peaceful protests in the hope that President Mugabe and SADC would acknowledge his party's demands for reform.

"This marks the first step towards claiming our rights," said the MDC leader, who accused the police of unprofessional conduct.

"Police are not prepared to salute anyone other than (President) Mugabe but they should know that his rule will come to an end one day." he said.

"Those who have been arrested and beaten must not lose heart. You have succeeded in putting (President) Mugabe and ZANU-PF to the test, which they have failed. The agreements we signed allow us to hold rallies. Police today showed that they have no respect for the law. Police must act professionally. What we saw today was not a decision of a professional police force, but that of ZANU-PF politicians."

In defending their decision to reverse an earlier nod for the march to go ahead, police filed an affidavit arguing the protest could not go ahead because there had been an "influx" of street kids and vagrants in Harare. The police feared these would join the march and cause chaos.

Police also convinced the magistrate that electricity pylons would be damaged, citing the recent collapse of a power line in Ruwa after a cable theft.

In addition, the law enforcement agents said, traffic lights were not working due to power cuts, resulting in traffic congestion. The march would worsen traffic jams, the police claimed.

They said they had received "intelligence" to the effect that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions would join the march to protest against the current cash crisis.

The MDC's appeal represented the first test of whether there had been any substantive change under amended security laws.

Human rights groups say the laws are still restrictive. Under the amended Public Order and Security Act (POSA), signed by President Mugabe into law on January 11, parties intending to organise public meetings, political rallies or demonstrations now have to appeal to a magistrates' court in the event of a police ban.

Previously, appeals were lodged with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The amended Act now prohibits protests within the vicinity of Parliament, a court or an area declared a protected place in terms of the Protected Areas and Places Act without the permission of the Speaker, Chief Justice and Judge President.

Civic society, human rights organizations and media groups have said POSA and the other amended Acts, the Broadcasting services Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act are still restrictive.

Human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama appeared for the MDC, while Fatima Maxwell, head of the Civil Division in the Attorney General's Office, stood for the police.