Rare compliment as Gay & Lesbians commend Zimbabwe police

UNIDENTIFIED assailants on Thursday used hammers to force entry into the Harare offices of the Gays and Lesbians Association, where they locked employees in a room and then ransacked the premises, the organisation said.

"About 20 men besieged our office, rounded up the staff, including board members in a meeting. They collected our personal property, laptops and cell phones and fled," an activist with Galz (Gay and Lesbian Association of Zimbabwe) said.

In a statement, the group commended the police's "swift reaction" to the attack.

The perpetrators were being questioned by police in Harare and no one was injured, it said.

"We commend the Police's swift reaction as they arrived promptly at the scene and promptly arrested the men who are now in custody at Harare Central Police Station. All members present at the office were unharmed and one mobile phone and some cash belonging to a board member are allegedly missing," the group said.

"GALZ is not taking this incident as a random act of attempted robbery but that of deliberate attack by the youth militia, acting on the orders of someone superior. The men were constantly making communication with an individual addressed as 'Machacha' of an unknown 'security wing' over the phone.

"We applaud the conduct of the Zimbabwe Republic Police in apprehending these men who were bent on creating a situation of lawlessness in Zimbabwe."

Police would not comment on the incident.