A mob of 500 ruling party militants randomly beat whites on the streets of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, yesterday and firebombed the local offices of the main opposition party.
"There was an old white man who was passing the offices of the Bulawayo Chronicle. He was beaten and they pulled him to the ground," an eyewitness said. "They were picking on people, who were running everywhere." There was no confirmation of the number of injuries and no immediate comment from police.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, said the militants marched into the city escorted by police and then set fire to his party's local headquarters.
Bulawayo fire fighters tried to get to the scene but were turned back by the militants while armed paramilitaries looked on.
"We cannot have jungle justice," said Mr Tsvangirai.
He denied government claims that his party was behind the abduction of Cain Nkala, a war veterans leader. Mr Nkala's body was found on Tuesday in a shallow grave. President Robert Mugabe's politburo has declared Mr Nkala a national hero. He will receive a state funeral tomorrow.
A magistrate has thrown out fraud charges against the editor of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper and a former colleague, saying the state had failed to provide evidence against them.
Mr Geoff Nyarota, editor of the Daily News, and his former business partner, Mr Wilfred Mbanga, were arrested last week and charged with misleading officials about the amount of money they had at their disposal to start the paper three years ago. Mr Mbanga said outside the court yesterday: "I think this is proof there is still justice in Zimbabwe."