Riots on streets in Zimbabwe

Thousands of people protesting over tax increases fought running battles with police yesterday, turning Harare into a battle zone during one of the biggest labour strikes ever held in Zimbabwe. As helicopters swooped overhead, riot police fired hundreds of canisters of tear gas and used clubs to break up the demonstration, which had been banned.

Protesters hurled stones at police and passing cars, vandalised traffic signs, built makeshift roadblocks, smashed shop windows and set several buses ablaze. The one-day strike and protest had been called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions to protest tax increases intended to raise money to pay veterans of the seven-year bush war that led to Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980.

- AP, Zimbabwe