MDC office raided in Harare

HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 3 (UPI) -- Zimbabwean security forces raided the headquarters of the chief opposition party Thursday, a party official said.

Police also targeted a hotel used by foreign reporters, The New York Times reported. An employee at York Lodge said six people were detained, including Barry Bearak, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for The Times.

A police spokesman told The New Zealand Times that Bearak and another foreign reporter were arrested for not having government accreditation to report in Zimbabwe.

The raids came as the government continued to delay release of the results of Saturday's presidential election. Official results for the parliamentary vote, released Wednesday showed that the Movement for Democratic Change had won a small majority, pushing President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party into the minority for the first time.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general for the Movement for Democratic Change, told the BBC police did not make any arrests when they raided party offices in a hotel in Harare because no party officials were there. He denied leaders had gone into hiding but said the party's standard-bearer, Morgan Tsvangirai, canceled a news conference.

A freelance reporter told the BBC the MDC raid was conducted because the party illegally released election results ahead of the government.