Zimbabwean police arrested and charged 46 women today after some of them attempted to gather in the southern city of Bulawayo to celebrate Mother's Day in defiance of a police ban, witnesses and lawyers said.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) condemned the move, which mirrored arrests of 73 women in Bulawayo and the capital Harare during peace marches on Valentine's Day in February.
"Police swooped on the women...as they tried to gather at a central spot in town. They bundled them into a waiting vehicle and took them away," a witness told reporters by telephone.
A human rights lawyer representing the women said the group included innocent bystanders there when the police moved in.
All 46 were charged under the Miscellaneous Offence Act, and fined Z$3,000 (US $3.63 at the official rate) each.
"They will be released today," lawyer Perpetua Dube told reporters.
Police were not available for comment. A similar gathering of about 100 women in Harare took place without incident.
In a statement, the MDC said today's arrests showed "the repressive regime's insensitivity to gender issues". Tomorrow is officially celebrated as Mother's Day in Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe signed tough security legislation just before he was re-elected in 2002, which forbids public meetings and is seen as aimed at suppressing opposition.
Earlier this week police arrested 20 protesters, mainly women, as they picketed a hotel where the leaders of South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi were meeting with MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai as part of mediation efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.