Police this week barred Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's lecture series at a local hotel - despite initially giving permission for the public meeting to discuss the global financial crisis and the implications for Zimbabwe.

Armed riot police dispersed people who had gathered for the lecture, which was to be addressed by Professor Patrick Bond from the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in SA, and local academic Ibbo Mandaza from the Southern African Political Economy Series (Sapes).

Political analyst, Charles Mangongera, who was to chair Wednesday's lecture, said police refused to listen to him despite him showing them a police clearance authorising the gathering. "They said we supplied them with a false address. This is despite the fact that we have applied using the same address before. We were dispersed. They sent a whole truckload of anti-riot police to cordon-off the hotel."

Bond said he was deeply disappointed, saying this showed that Zimbabwe had regressed into a fascist state, where the free flow of ideas was curtailed by a paranoid political class.

But on Thursday, in a display of partisan policing, police watched as Zanu-PF hooligans disrupted the building of a service station and food court being built by Harare businessman, Alex Mashamhanda.

Mugabe supporters accused Mashamhanda of having links with the MDC, which he denies. Police looked on as he and his workers were assaulted by the stone-throwing and club-wielding mob.