Apr 4, 2007, 10:47 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg - Military helicopters hovered above Harare suburbs on Wednesday, the second day of a largely unsuccessful strike.
Shops, businesses and taxis all appeared to be operating as normal in the capital as few Zimbabweans heeded the call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions to stay away from work.
Analysts said the strike, which also sought to press for higher wages, appeared to have gone largely unheeded because Zimbabwe's largely self-employed workforce could not afford to take time off.
'It's a futile exercise to call people to stay away,' said political commentator John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe.
Police had warned they are on 'high alert' but by mid-morning there was little sign of police on major roads.
The Combined Harare Residents Association, one of the biggest rights groups in the country, alleged that police and soldiers beat up some residents in two eastern Harare townships on the eve of the strike on Monday.
The strike had been called to protest government action over the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, where inflation, currently running at a world-record 1,729 per cent, is predicted to reach at least 2,500 percent this month, according to the official Herald newspaper.
Prices have risen between 200 and 500 percent since March 1, the date a price freeze had been due to come into effect and consumer spending had reached 'rock bottom,' the paper said.
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