HARARE – Police fought running battles with street hawkers in Harare on Thursday, as the latest attempts at clearing the informal traders from the central business district ended in failure.

The government has banned street vending, ministers say to contain a deadly cholera outbreak that has killed over 35 people in the capital.

Dozens of riot police officers moved around Harare in open trucks, seizing wares from the vendors and arresting those who resisted.

The vendors, moving in groups, forced the police to retreat in some areas by throwing stones at them.

The opposition MDC party criticised the crackdown.

“The brutality and heavy-handedness which the police and junta are currently meting out to vendors in Harare’s CBD is completely unlawful and unacceptable,” said Tendai Biti, the MDC MP for Harare East on Twitter.

Closing with the hashtag #RiggingDoesNotPay, he added: “This country has quickly descended into a fascist banana Republic run on fear and coercion. We reject barbarism.”

Videos shared online showed police stopping a commuter omnibus, ordering the passengers out before assaulting them. Moments later, police fired teargas as they came under attack from the vendors.

Police said the stone-throwing vendors had destroyed shop and car windows, but they did not readily have figures of those arrested.

Health authorities say food sold on the open markets around Harare could spread the cholera, which has so far been concentrated in the poor neighbourhoods of Glenview and Budiriro.

Vending has been banned, as have public meetings – although Premier Soccer League matches continue to be played. Churches and schools also remain open.