By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police arrested oppositionleader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday while he was campaigningfor the country's June 27 presidential run-off election, hisMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) said.
It is the third time in little more than a week thatTsvangirai has been detained by police.
The opposition and human rights groups accuse PresidentRobert Mugabe's government of waging a campaign of arrests andviolent intimidation ahead of the run-off with Tsvangirai.
"Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested by Zimbabwean policeand is currently being held at Kwekwe police station. He andhis entourage of 20 people were detained at a roadblock outsideof Kwekwe while conducting a campaign tour through Midlandsprovince," the MDC said in a statement.
Police earlier on Thursday arrested the party's secretarygeneral at Harare airport as he flew in from South Africa.Biti, the party's number three, left the country soon afterdisputed March 29 elections to gather African support.
"He was wanted in connection with the prematureannouncement of results before the official announcement ofresults by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission," said policespokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first round of elections inMarch but not by enough to avoid a run-off, according toofficial figures.
The MDC says ZANU-PF activists have killed 66 oppositionsupporters to try to intimidate voters before the run-off, andpolice have detained Tsvangirai twice over the past week whiletrying to campaign.
The ruling party blames the opposition for the politicalviolence.
(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by MatthewTostevin)
