Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was charged with disorderly conduct today in connection with a tour of empty stores and supermarkets last month, his party said.
Tsvangirai returned from a trip to Australia on Monday to a barrage of criticism, including calls for his arrest, from ruling party politicians and the state media who said he campaigned for economic sanctions. Tsvangirai and his party have not yet commented on the accusations.
No official comment was immediately available from police.
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Tsvangirai's faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, said the opposition leader was summoned to the central police station in connection with alleged disturbances Aug. 1 in Harare, when he toured shops hit by a government-ordered price freeze that has led to acute shortages of goods.
During the tour, Jocelyn Chiwenga, a businesswoman and wife of the army commander Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, yelled insults at Tsvangirai and jostled shoppers and journalists at one store.
Police took Tsvangirai's fingerprints and charged him under security regulations. He was to appear in court at an unspecified later date, Mr Chamisa said.
The charges carry a fine.
"This is the usual tactic of intimidation by the regime," Mr Chamisa said.
Independent estimates put real inflation in Zimbabwe nearly 25,000 per cent, fueled by black market trading in scarce goods.
Long and often unruly food lines at stores have become a daily occurrence. Two people died in a stampede for sugar last month and two others died in stampedes at the Harare agriculture show on Saturday.
AP