Zimbabwe Policeman Killed on White Farm

A police officer was shot and killed Tuesday as he tried to arrest a suspect in the beating of a white farmer, union leaders said. The incident raised fears that the conflict in Zimbabwe over land rights might escalate.

Police spokesman Bothwell Mugariri said a constable died on the farm of landowner Ian Kay, who was beaten Monday. Mugariri said that he had no further details and that authorities were investigating.

However, the Commercial Farmers Union said police had arrested three suspects in Kay’s beating and were believed to be carrying out further arrests when gunshots were heard on the property. Farmers reported seeing a policeman’s body being lifted into a police vehicle, it said.

The death was a serious escalation in a monthlong standoff between white landowners and squatters, who are being led by the veterans of Zimbabwe’s war that led to its independence in 1980.

Since early February, armed squatters and veterans have smashed their way onto white-owned homesteads and staked claims to the land. Police have ignored a court ruling to evict illegal squatters.

White farm owners threatened Tuesday to start fighting back if nothing is done to curb the violence.

“We’ve been threatened by these squatters for weeks now, but this time they have crossed the line. If nothing is done, we’ll have no choice other than to fight back,” said one of Kay’s neighbors, who asked not to be identified.

The union said Kay, 51, was hospitalized after being attacked by 25 assailants. He managed to flee when the attackers were distracted by a vehicle approaching his corn and tobacco farm near Marondera, about 75 miles east of Harare, the capital.

Neighbors said Kay was targeted because he supports the Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition party challenging President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party in elections expected to be called in May.

Mugabe has called the occupations a justifiable protest against the descendants of white settlers who occupied land without paying for it during the colonial era.