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ABOUT 200 opposition supporters crowded outside the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe on Thursday, claiming to be victims of political violence and appealing for protection.

Zimbabwean police said there was a "hand behind the group".

Many of the campers had small bundles of possessions. They included mothers with small children.

Just last week, another group of opposition supporters claiming to be fleeing militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe set up camp outside the South African embassy.

United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee said that the people came from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters. He said embassy officials were working with humanitarian groups to find accommodation for them.

Zimbabwean police accused the MDC of "recycling a group of people that it claims to be political refugees and stage-managing their homelessness then taking them from one embassy to another in a bid to attract international attention".

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said: "We have a situation where, we believe, people are being paid to move from one embassy to another claiming to be victims of crime. The frequency of the groups moving from one embassy to another raises a lot of questions and seems to suggest that there is a hand behind these groupings at embassies."

He said following a police raid on the MDC headquarters on June 23 which saw dozens of people being moved by social services to the Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre, cases of groups of people camping outside embassies had increased.

"The following day a group of 250 people camped at the South African Embassy and we relocated them to Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre. A day later another group of 46 people went to the Germany Embassy and was again taken to Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre willingly and freely. Most of them have gone back to their homes," he said.

Human rights groups documented cases of violence in the run-up to the June 27 presidential election runoff. The MDC said at least 80 of its supporters had been killed by President Mugabe's supporters, a charge the Zimbabwe government denies.

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