England Test Series Faces Pitch Protests

Opponents of Robert Mugabe's regime are threatening to storm the pitch in protest when Zimbabwe play England this summer.

Pro-democracy campaigners are finalising their tactics to disrupt Zimbabwe's two Test matches and three one-day internationals against England, which start on 22 May, to draw attention to the repression, state-sponsored violence and human rights abuses in the former colony.

'Hit-and-run tactics are going to be employed, such as hundreds of people invading the pitch wearing either black armbands or cricket flannels covered in fake blood,' said Alan Wilkinson, a Zimbabwean activist who is organising the protests.

'People will be at most of Zimbabwe's fixtures who will be ready to storm the pitch and disrupt the game when the time is right.'

Wilkinson has joined forces with Peter Tatchell, organiser of the newly formed Stop the Tour group, who was assaulted by a Mugabe bodyguard in Brussels in 2001 when he tried to make a citizen's arrest on the Zimbabwean President for crimes against his own people.

MPs of all parties, such as ex-Sports Minister Kate Hoey, Zimbabwean exiles and human rights campaigners believe the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) should refuse to play Zimbabwe as a way of isolating Mugabe internationally.

Campaigners are calling on England's players to refuse to play. Some have written to Nasser Hussain, England's Test captain, who played a key role in England's controversial decision not to play a Cricket World Cup match in Harare in February, asking him to boycott the matches.

Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, the two Zimbabwean cricketers who suffered persecution at home after wearing black armbands to symbolise the death of democracy in their country during a world cup tie in February, are being asked to join protests outside the match venues, including Lord's.

The pair, who were feted as heroes for their stand, were promptly dropped by Zimbabwe, and Olonga was forced into hiding in South Africa after receiving threats. Flower plays for Essex, while Olonga will commentate for Channel 4 on the series.

Both players declined to comment, but a friend of Olonga said: 'Zimbabweans who oppose Mugabe, and that obviously includes Henry, feel the cricket team are ambassadors of the regime and as such should be subject to the same travel restrictions as those imposed on Mugabe and his cronies by the EU and United States.'

Since the protest by Flower and Olonga, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), which has close ties to Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has purged every player or coach deemed to be anti-Mugabe. As a result, the team that arrives on Thursday is not expected to provide much opposition for England.

Tatchell condemned the ECB for fielding a team to play a side that has been 'politically vetted'. 'Zimbabwe's cricketers are sporting ambassadors for the regime. Mugabe wants this tour to go ahead as part of his strategy to normalise relations with the rest of the world,' said Tatchell. 'But there can be no normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime that uses torture, rape and murder as weapons of repression.'

His comments were echoed by the former England captain Mike Brearley.

'There is a powerful case for not having the Zimbabweans play here because it makes a clear statement that we don't want to give moral support to a regime as odious as Mugabe's,' Brearley said.

MPs from all parties and Zimbabwean activists are meeting at the House of Commons on 7 May to form an action group on Zimbabwe. They will write to the ECB's sponsors asking why they are endorsing sporting contact with such a repressive regime, and will ask the public to boycott this summer's matches.

Derek Wyatt, the Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, said: 'The ECB stands to make up to £10 million from this tour. By welcoming Zimbabwe, they are putting money above morality, which is disgraceful.'

Last night the ECB dismissed calls for a boycott and defended its right to play the Zimbabweans. 'Why should the England cricket team be asked to make a gesture like that when nobody else is breaking off sporting contact with Zimbabwe?' asked spokesman John Read.

'People play Zimbabweans at golf and tennis, and their athletes competed at last summer's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, so should we alone take a stand? We are cricketers, not politicians.'

denis.campbell@observer.co.uk