Protesters plan Lord's demonstration

Opponents of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime will stage a protest outside Lord's when the first npower Test between England and Zimbabwe starts on Thursday.

Washington Ali, the organiser, said that it would be a peaceful gathering outside the main entrance to Lord's and that there were no plans to disrupt the match itself. The protest is due to start at 11am, the traditional start time for Tests in England, although this season matches are scheduled to begin 15 minutes earlier.

A group of protestors are also due to travel through central London on an open-top bus to the Zimbabwe High Commission, where they will hand over a letter to the High Commissioner calling for an end to what they call "state sponsored political violence in Zimbabwe" that has taken place under Mugabe's rule. The bus will then continue to Lord's.

"First and foremost we are looking for the attention of the whole international community. We want them to focus on Zimbabwe," said Ali, a Zimbabwean who arrived in England in 2001 and was once arrested without trial by the Mugabe regime, explained.

"People are not getting the nitty-gritty details about Zimbabwe," Ali continued. "We've got [Zimbabwean] people here who have been gang-raped and been buried up to their necks for 21 days." Ali was not specific about how many protesters would be at Lord's but said several bus loads, including the one in London, would be coming "from all parts of the UK."

At Lord's, other protesters will be handing out black armbands to spectators in the hope that these will be worn inside the ground while the match is in progress. This follows on from the protest during this year's World Cup by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga.

Mark Harrison, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe cricket team in England, said that: "They respect the right of people to have a peaceful protest and they hope they [the protesters] respect their rights as cricketers to play cricket in England."