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Thorny start: Zimbabwe activists held for handing out roses

Other News Materials 11 February 2009 13:05 (UTC +04:00)

In a thorny start to power-sharing in Zimbabwe, eight activists from the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) pressure group were detained by police for distributing roses outside parliament on Tuesday, lawyers said Wednesday.

Members of WOZA, a group that has been honoured with several human rights prizes for its campaign of peaceful resistance to President Robert Mugabe's rule, traditionally hand out roses on St Valentine's Day, dpa reported.

The roses symbolize the group's call for peace and political tolerance in Zimbabwe.

WOZA brought forward the action this year to coincide with the scheduled swearing-in Wednesday of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister of a unity government, the head of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Irene Petras, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

ZLHR had no information Wednesday morning as to where the women were being held or what, if any, charges they faced.

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