Police continued demolishing thousands of shacks and vendors' kiosks in opposition strongholds Monday, burning a 10-kilometer (six-mile) long line of curio stalls along the road near Victoria Falls.
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Thousands of street traders have been arrested and their wares seized or destroyed since the May 19 start of the crackdown, which the government has described as an urban renewal campaign.
Police using torches, sledgehammers and bulldozers have also burned and demolished the homes of the urban poor in informal settlements around the country.
"A government that destroys the property of people who are trying to make and honest living is evil" MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said Monday after a session of the main opposition party's national council.
"We call on all Zimbabweans to mobilize against this assault on their dignity, livelihoods and well being," said Themba-Nyathi, defying tough new security laws that provide a 20-year prison term for anyone trying to "coerce" President Robert Mugabe's government.
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Harare's government-appointed Mayore Sekesai Makwavarara last week gave dwellers in the city's myriad backyard shacks until July to vacate, citing health grounds. About half the city's poor live in such shacks. The government has not explained why it began demolitions before the July deadline.
