Police in Zimbabwe today denied looting the homes of thousands of street traders who have been arrested and forcibly evicted from the shantytowns of Harare over the last week.

Oliver Mandipaka, a police spokesman, told state radio that reports that the police had stolen food and electrical goods were attempts to smear the reputation of the government.

Harare remains in chaos after a violent week of police and army raids during which nearly 23,000 people have been arrested and thousands of homes destroyed in what the government has called a clean-up operation. Thousands more residents of Zimbabwe's capital have been made homeless and are said to be fleeing to the countryside to escape the bulldozers that have razed their shantytown homes and shops.

The government of President Robert Mugabe is calling the crackdown "Operation Murambatsvina" or "Restore Order" and says it is aimed at cleaning out 50,000 illegal traders in the capital city. The arrests and raids began last Thursday and according to the state-run newspaper, The Herald, will "rid the city of both physical decay and moral decadence."

Yesterday the paper quoted Wayne Bvudzijena, assistant comissioner of police saying: "We have so far arrested a total of 22,735 people and recovered 33.5kg of gold from 47 illegal gold panners and 26,000 litres of fuel."

In today's edition, The Herald quotes Bvudzijena saying that the destruction of homes, arrests and planned relocation of thousands of street traders is the largest police operation since the "land reform exercise" in 2000.

According to the government, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development is planning to build a series of purpose-built markets across the country to house the traders.

But opposition groups, including the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have condemned the action, in which hundreds of homes have been burned and bulldozed in the Hadcliffe Extension, Tongogara and Mbare residential areas of Harare.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC told a news conference: "Property worth millions of dollars has gone up in flames. Families are out in the open - without jobs, without income, without shelter, without support. Overnight, Zimbabwe has a massive internal refugee population in its urban areas."

Tsvangirai accused the Mugabe government of taking revenge on the urban inhabitants of Zimbabwe, who voted overwhelmingly against the government and its ruling party, Zanu PF, in nationwide elections on March 31. President Mugabe was returned to power in the elections, which have been widely condemned as rigged, largely on the back of rural support.

Amnesty International and the U.S government have also criticised the street clearings and arrests in Harare. Nancy Beck, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, issued a statement saying that the US was aware of reports of clashes between the police and the traders and that there was "the potential of a violent backlash from the affected communities." Riots opposing the street clearings have been heavily suppressed.

Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme said: "We have had reports of heart-wrenching scenes of ordinary Zimbabweans who have had their homes and livelihoods completely destroyed crying on the street in utter disbelief. We have even had reports of police forcing people to destroy their own homes."

The Mugabe government blames unregulated street trading for the failure of its economic policies. The Zimbabwean economy has contracted by 30 per cent over the last five years and on Wednesday, President Mugabe met with James Morris, head of the UN World Food Program, to discuss food aid to the country over the coming months.

There are fears that up to 4 million people could be affected by a famine looming in the region. Although today the Zimbabwean government announced that it had purchased 1.2 metric tonnes of corn from South Africa to solve the problem.

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