Zimbabwe riot police arrested the country's top opposition leader on Sunday as they suppressed a planned prayer rally in a crackdown on protests against President Robert Mugabe.

Witnesses said heavily armed police fought skirmishes with rock-throwing opposition supporters in the Harare township of Highfield, where the opposition-aligned Save Zimbabwe Coalition had called for a Sunday prayer rally.

Police arrested Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition officials after blocking their motor convoy from driving to the stadium where the rally was to have been held.

"Mr Tsvangirai has also been arrested. He was arrested as he was driving out of Highfield," MDC information officer Luke Tamborinyoka told Reuters. "We don't know where he is being held at the moment."

Officials had earlier said that Arthur Mutambara, who leads another faction of the MDC, and Lovemore Madhuku of the pressure group National Constitutional Assembly were also detained. Read More

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