Joseph Winter in Harare: the city "feels like a ghost town"

Witnesses said cars and buses were stoned and several set on fire. Police prevented demonstrators torching a gas station.

The trouble came as the Congolese President Laurent Kabila arrived in Harare amid tight security for talks with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

The 67% hike in fuel prices has been blamed indirectly on the deployment of 6,000 Zimbabwean troops to defend President Kabila in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trouble in the suburbs

President Mugabe has held power since 1980

The trouble started overnight in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town about 20km from Harare. Rioters stoned and torched a bus, an army truck and several other vehicles, state radio said.

Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters. On Wednesday the situation was reported to be calm but tense.

The minister for home affairs told the BBC that around 20 people had been arrested for looting and public order offences.

Harare was reported to be quieter than usual on Wednesday, with a number of shops and factories shut. Some reports said the police blocked major roads into the city.

The BBC Zimbabwe Correspondent Joseph Winter said roads from Chitungwiza were littered with debris and large boulders left as barricades by residents trying to prevent public transport vehicles from getting into the capital where most inhabitants work.

The fuel price rises have caused public transport fares to rise by up to 40%.

Thousands of commuters who did make it into the city walked home early. Public transport companies had stopped all bus services in the area. Several schools appealed to parents to collect their children early, state radio said.

Days of discontent

Political analysts say the riots are a reflection of public frustration over President Mugabe's autocratic regime.

Rocketing inflation, forecasted to peak at about 40% by the year-end, has put increasing pressure on the government.

The government says the fuel price rises were prompted by a sharp drop in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar, which analysts have blamed on the cost of maintaining Zimbabwean troops in Congo.