England's controversial World Cup match in Zimbabwe was thrown into further doubt at the weekend when the mayor of Harare and 22 city officials were arrested and allegedly beaten by police.

Elias Mudzuri, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested on Saturday afternoon as he was to speak to 500 residents about water supply problems in the capital. The arrest is significant because Mudzuri was one of the politicians consulted by an ICC delegation that visited Zimbabwe in November and declared the matches could go ahead.

He has been refused access to his lawyer and family, despite having a blood pressure condition that requires medication. The deputy mayor and 21 other municipal officials were also arrested.

Despite the MDC's opposition to the tournament Mudzuri and his counterpart in Bulawayo said the matches would be a boon to their cities. He had, however, called for supporters to wear black armbands in protest at the policies of Robert Mugabe.

Tim Lamb, the ECB's chief executive, made much of Mudzuri's apparent endorsement when opposition to the matches gathered momentum.

Gabriel Chaibva, an MDC MP, said the security situation in Harare has deteriorated amid anger at what most see as a politically motivated intervention.

"This is an outrageous act which shows the Mugabe government will go to any lengths to destroy and crush the legal opposition. The city's population is furious and the security situation has seriously deteriorated," Chaibva said.

"Police manhandled mayor Mudzuri, shoving him and tearing his shirt, threatening to kill him before they bundled him away to jail."

Food, fuel and water are all scarce in Zimbabwe. The World Food Programme has said five million people face famine as a result of Mugabe's land reform policies.

Police used the draconian Public Order and Security Act which allows them to break up any gathering of more than three people that does not have prior approval to make the arrests. They are the latest in a series of actions by the Mugabe regime against officials representing the opposition party, which was elected in Harare early this year.

The government has refused to release funds to the city government and has carried out a vicious propaganda campaign against the mayor. A demonstration against the government's actions last week was brusquely broken up by police.

Despite the arrests Zimbabwe's World Cup general manager Dave Everington was unconcerned: "I wouldn't say there is a tense atmosphere here at all," he said. "I believe we have one or two problems and one or two shortages, but general security is certainly not a problem."

The ECB's management board will meet tomorrow to decide whether England will tour. Yesterday Lamb implied that only a deterioration in the security situation would prevent them going.

"The neatest solution to all of this, ironically, was if the security situation were to deteriorate and the ICC were to revisit its decision," he said.

"I do understand and respect the view of those who feel we shouldn't be playing cricket in a country where there is total political and economical turmoil - but at the same time people have to understand we have signed legally binding contracts to play in this competition.

"We don't believe that cancelling one cricket match will help to put food into people's stomachs and fuel into people's cars."

Meanwhile David Graveney is to stand down from his post as the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association. Graveney, who is also England's chairman of selectors, has been under pressure since he broke ranks with the ECB and said that England should not travel to Zimbabwe.

The charge of hypocrisy was levelled - he was a member of Mike Gatting's rebel tour to South Africa - and there has been some unease at the one man holding two such influential positions.

Guardian Unlimited ' Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001

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