Zimbabwe police set up checkpoints ahead of strike

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Soldiers and police fanned out across Zimbabwe on Tuesday ahead of a general strike called by the opposition to pressure officials to release the results of a presidential election.

Army trucks, some equipped with water cannons, moved through opposition strongholds around the capital Harare and riot police and other officers set up checkpoints.

"This is a routine security exercise," one police officer said at a checkpoint in a township controlled by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has called on Zimbabweans to stay at home indefinitely.

Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC has declared victory in the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections and has demanded that President Robert Mugabe step down. Parliamentary results have been released but the results of the presidential poll have not.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission said it was still counting and verifying the votes.

On Monday, a Zimbabwean High Court rejected the MDC's bid to force authorities to release the results.

The MDC said one of its supporters was stabbed to death by members of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party. Police disputed that, saying the killing did not appear to be politically motivated.

Tsvangirai and his supporters are hoping that Zimbabweans will support the general strike. But there are concerns it could fizzle as others have in the past or wither in the face of the unspoken threat of a police crackdown.