Zimbabwean police fired teargas yesterday and charged several hundred demonstrators who were demanding a democratic constitution, water, electricity and the right to draw money from banks without queueing.

The leader of the Opposition was detained, ten demonstrators were treated in hospital and dozens were arrested, lawyers said.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was released later to address supporters on a vacant lot next to a stadium on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital, where the rally had been scheduled to take place.

Mr Tsvangirai said that the police clampdown proved that President Mugabe was not serious about his pledge to hold free elections in March and announced that his party would respond by stepping up protests. Mr Mugabe had “failed the test for a free and fair election”, Mr Tsvangirai said. “If this is the regime's reaction then elections are just a farce.”

The march and the planned rally were the first test of Mr Mugabe's credibility after he had agreed, under mediation overseen by the Southern African Development Community, the 14-nation regional bloc, to a wide series of reforms of legislation used to crush gatherings of his opponents.

It took nine months of spasmodic negotiations, chaired by President Mbeki of South Africa, between Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu(PF) party and the two MDC factions to achieve an agreement on limited reforms to what are some of the most repressive laws in Africa. A High Court ruling yesterday morning gave the party permission to proceed with the rally but not to march to the rally site, Nelson Chamisa, an MDC spokesman, said.

Mr Chamisa said that police seized Mr Tsvangirai at about 4am from his home in Harare and released him five hours later. He described the arrest and the ban on the march as a deliberate snub to South African efforts to find a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis.

“It's a mockery of President Mbeki's efforts. It's a mockery of African solutions to African problems. It's a mockery to humankind,” he said.

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