The opening of Zimbabwe's newly-elected parliament yesterday was marked by a competition between the clenched fist salutes of the ruling Zanu-PF party and the open-handed waves of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The friendly waves won.
Although President Robert Mugabe's party controls 92 of the 150 parliamentary seats, the MDC has overwhelming support in Harare, and the crowd of more than 5,000 outside the House of Assembly became a sea of waving hands when the deputies arrived.
A stony-faced Mr Mugabe came in an open-roofed Bentley. He looked straight ahead to avoid acknowledging the MDC crowd waving red cards, which symbolise the opposition's call for Mr Mugabe's team to be sent off from the political game.
The crowd's chants, calling for change, reached the panelled parliamentary chamber. But Mr Mugabe gave no indication in his opening speech that for the first time since he came to power in 1980 there is a significant opposition party in parliament.
MDC leaders have said one of their first parliamentary actions will be to call for Mr Mugabe's impeachment, on the grounds that he incited violence and other crimes during the election campaign. The MDC has the votes needed to force a debate on the motion, which means Mr Mugabe will face unprecedented criticism in parliament.
In his opening speech, the president promised to accelerate the redistribution of land from white farmers to poor black Zimbabweans. The address, which was generally bland, was broadcast outside on loudspeakers and was greeted with laughter and heckling from the crowd.
The police tried to prevent the display of support for the opposition. They pushed back the crowd and made MDC supporters sit down and keep quiet, while members of the much smaller band of Zanu-PF supporters and war veterans moved around freely.
"It is the same as during the election campaign," said one MDC supporter. "The police have one rule for the opposition supporters and a different rule for those supporting Zanu-PF."
Another MDC supporter, Mr Patrick Ndlovu, said he had come to the opening "because I wanted to see the new MDC members. They can bring change to this country. I am delighted." Some scuffles broke out between supporters of the two parties, but for the most part the rivalry remained good-natured and peaceful.
Mr Mugabe was jeered as he left the building and his cabinet ministers frantically rolled up the windows of their Mercedes to avoid direct contact with opposition supporters.
The MDC deputies wore black armbands in mourning for the 31 people killed by Mr Mugabe's supporters during the election campaign.
"We cannot forget those who died to help bring change to Zimbabwe," said one of them, Ms Priscilla Misihairambwi.
Mr Mugabe usually holds a reception for all deputies on the eve of the opening, but he cancelled it at the last minute on Wednesday, on the grounds that the government must trim its spending. Another explanation is that he could not bring himself to entertain the new opposition.
"We were going to boycott it anyway," another MDC deputy said. "We didn't want to dine with murderers."
As parliament opened, Mr Mugabe's supporters continued to invade white-owned farms and tell the farmers to leave immediately, under threat of death. More than 20 farms in the Glendale area north of Harare stopped work because of the threats of violence from the war veterans.
Following the opening the crowd dispersed throughout Harare city centre. A group of Zanu-PF women, wearing dresses featuring portraits of Robert Mugabe, threatened a white woman journalist.
Nearby a band of MDC supporters clambered on to a pickup truck singing: "If I die because of political violence, it will be because of ZANU. Don't cry for me because I will be bringing change."