Police in Mutare, Zimbabwe, rounded up and questioned members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Friday after a police station in the eastern city was firebombed early in the morning, officials and opposition members said.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed that Mutare's Chisamba police station was hit with a Molotov cocktail. He said no one was injured, but the bomb made of a gasoline-filled bottle destroyed important documents and some bicycles.
A number of similar attacks have been reported in Harare and around the country in recent weeks. Authorities have blamed the opposition, but MDC officials have denied responsibility for the attacks and stressed that they do not condone violence.
The opposition has also been targeted: one bomb was thrown at the home of former Chitungwiza Mayor Misheck Shoko, an opposition politician.
Police in Mutare briefly detained and questioned Manicaland MDC Youth Chairman Knowledge Nyamhuka and supporter Clifford Mbariro. Nyamhuka said Mbariro was assaulted by police during his interrogation and then dumped on the outskirts of the city and left to walk home. Some local MDC supporters have gone into hiding.
Nyamhuka told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that plainclothes officers detained him and threatened him with death.