Zimbabwean church leaders demonstrated against repression and human rights abuses in their troubled country from inside the stadium where Australia and Zimbabwe were playing a World Cup cricket match Monday.
The group of about 20 church leaders gathered among the spectators and held the banners bearing the name of their group, "Christians Together for Justice and Peace."
They wore black armbands in solidarity with two senior Zimbabwe cricket stars Andy Flower and Henry Olonga who have been wearing black armbands for what they called a silent protest to mourn "the death of democracy" in the country.
On Monday, however, Flower, apparently under pressure from local cricket authorities, failed to wear the black armband.
The Christian group, consisting of clergy from the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic and other churches said, "Our Christian faith compels us to stand in solidarity with the starving, the oppressed and suffering people of this land and pray for our liberation from the cruel yoke of oppression."
Church leaders said they were dismayed that World Cup cricket matches were allowed to be held in Zimbabwe.
"We are trying to show the world what is really happening in the country," Graham Shore, head of the Methodist church in Bulawayo told South African state radio. "(Holding games here) gives legitimacy to a brutal government."
Monday's demonstration was carried out peacefully.
England's players refused to travel to Zimbabwe for their match fearing rioting. They forfeited believing that threatened disruption of the game would end in civil disorder.
Both the British and Australian governments have accused the government of President Robert Mugabe of human rights abuses and had asked their teams not to travel to Zimbabwe.