Peace Rally Broken Up in Zimbabwe

War veterans and ruling party militants armed with clubs and iron bars broke up a peace rally Saturday called by civic groups and turned back others who approached.

The rally, which was called by the National Constitutional Assembly, an alliance of civic groups, was intended to protest worsening political violence that has left at least 19 opposition supporters dead, including three white farmers.

War veterans and violent squatters have been illegally occupying more than 1,000 white-owned farms for months, saying the land disparity between whites and blacks is unacceptable.

Scores of police, some in riot gear, watched passively as militants chased at least 100 people away from a sports arena in western Harare.

Opponents of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front say he has encouraged the farm occupations. The opponents say Mugabe wants to punish farmers and their workers for supporting the main opposition group.

Also Saturday, the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted the country’s Citizenship Office as saying that whites who never formally renounced their British citizenship were not considered true Zimbabweans and should surrender their Zimbabwe passports.

Zimbabwe banned dual citizenship in 1984. Britain, however, allowed Zimbabweans of British descent to keep their British passports.