On April 25, more than 40 armed riot police raided the headquarters of the MDC in Harare and arrested 250 people who had fled violence in the rural areas and had taken refuge in the building. Police accused some of them of carrying out attacks against ZANU-PF supporters in Mashonaland East.89 Violence, Looting and the Destruction of Homes and Property in Mashonaland, Masvingo and Manicaland The ongoing violence has led to the internal displacement of more than 3,000 Zimbabweans around the country. Human Rights Watch believes that ZANU-PF is deliberately displacing thousands of people from their homes in the rural areas both in an effort to change the political landscape of these areas and to prevent MDC supporters from exercising their rights to vote during the presidential runoff. The ruling party appears to have orchestrated this mass displacement to ensure that those affected by the abuses cannot return home. It has done so through a campaign of beatings, burning of huts and homesteads, the deliberate slaughter of livestock, and the looting of property. Civil society organizations and victims and eyewitnesses from areas affected by the violence inform Human Rights Watch that hundreds of people are now living in the bush, grouping together for security at night.90 Human Rights Watch researchers visited the burnt homesteads of several MDC activists and those perceived to have voted for the MDC in Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces. In Karoi district, reports from local partners and victims indicate that more than 600 people were displaced by the violence in April.91 In Harare more than 200 people sought shelter at MDC Headquarters at Harvest House after escaping violence in rural areas across the country in April.92 By May 21 there were 350 displaced persons at Harvest House. In Manicaland more than 500 people were displaced and sought shelter at the MDC provincial headquarters in Mutare and were later moved to 89 “Zimbabwe surge in state-sponsored violence: security forces raid opposition headquarters,” Human Rights Watch news release, April 25, 2008, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/25/zimbab18653.htm. 90 Human Rights Watch interviews, April, May and June 2008. 91 Human Rights Watch interview with Biggie Haurobi, MDC official, Karoi, Mashonaland West, April 30, 2008. 92 Human Rights Watch interview with Thokozani Khupe, MDC Vice President, Harare, April 23, 2008. “Bullets for Each of You” 46