Cops arrest protesting journos - Zimbabewe

Police arrested about 100 activists and three journalists on Wednesday during a demonstration against the state's shutting down of the country's only independent daily newspaper.

Douglas Mwonzora, a spokesperson for the National Constitutional Assembly, a reform group that organised the protest, said those arrested were taken to the main Harare police station for questioning.

Their march to the Parliament building in downtown Harare was to protest the closure by police of the Daily News and "the deteriorating political and economic situation in Zimbabwe," Mwonzora said.

Under the country's strict security laws, political demonstrations are banned unless given police clearance.

The militant constitutional assembly has routinely been refused permission to hold public meetings and marches.

Police, meanwhile, continued to seize computers and other equipment from the Daily News offices on Wednesday. The newspaper was shut down last week for failing to register under restrictive media laws.

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