The latest trouble has been in southern districts of the city, where shops and businesses were attacked.

Police - supported by helicopters - struggled to prevent demonstrators entering the central business district, where there was looting yesterday. The government has promised to review all prices and has ordered milling companies to reverse a rise in the price of the staple maize meal which prompted the latest unrest.

The government feared that rioting could get out of hand

Violent street riots broke out on Monday in protest at steep increases in the price of basic foodstuffs.

The wave of violent protests was the second since December, when President Mugabe was forced to scrap a tax package after an unprecedented nationwide anti-tax protest.

Capital brought to a standstill

Violence later moved south into residential areas

Riot police used clubs and teargas on Monday to push more than 1,000 demonstrators out of the central business district which they had invaded.

Stones were thrown at motorists and some stores and offices closed.

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange suspended trade because the protests prevented some brokers from reaching the exchange.

Mugabe scraps price rises

Industry and Commerce Minister Nathan Shamuyarira told state television the government was going to review the price of all commodities "in view of the escalation in the prices of commodities and possible profiteering by some businessmen."

Sources in President Robert Mugabe's administration said the government had responded quickly by scrapping the maize price rise because it "feared" the riots could get out of hand.

The government has accused businessmen of raising prices in retaliation for government plans to takeover some white-owned farms.

Food manufacturers and retailers blame the massive increases on the steep fall of the Zimbabwe dollar against hard currencies and increased input costs in the last quarter of 1997.

The price of basic commodities increased between 17% and 42% in late 1997.