Zimbabwe's opposition leader Tsvangirai is released after being held for eight hours by police

Zimbabwe was at the centre of more international outrage last night after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and a group of key aides were held more more than eight hours by police.

The 56-year-old former union leader was detained as he campaigned for a presidential election run-off, along with the vice president and chairman of his Movement for Democratic Change.

'They've just been released without charge. The police were saying he addressed an unsanctioned meeting...They were held for 8 hours before their release,' Tsvangirai's lawyer Job Sibanda said last night.

The MDC said Tsvangirai's four-vehicle convoy was stopped at a roadblock manned by police and members of murderous dictator Robert Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation.

He was held at a rural police station in Lupane in the far west of the country.

Tsvangirai, who spent weeks in South Africa after the presidential election in March amid fears he would be assassinated, defeated Mugabe but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot.

The run-off is scheduled for June 27.

In March last year, the father of six was detained and badly beaten in police custody after he tried to attend a banned anti-government rally in Harare.

Images of his battered face made headlines round the world and shocked millions.

Mugabe has vowed  never to allow the MDC to take power, fuelling opposition fears that the ruling ZANU-PF will use intimidation and vote-rigging to extend the president's 28-year rule.

Britain, the United States and the EU led the international outcry against Zimbabwe's latest  intimidation tactics against the opposition.

Run-off: Supporters welcome Mr Tsvangirai to Bulawayo on Monday where he has been campaigning ahead of the run-off against Robert Mugabe

Foreign Secretary, David Miliband,  said Britain was 'greatly disturbed' while the US called for Tsvangirai to be released immediately, 'unharmed, untouched.'

The opposition says 65 people have been killed by Mugabe's supporters since the election.

Yesterday  soldiers and ZANU-PF activists beat and threatened to shoot Zimbabweans who wanted to support Tsvangirai.

The government says the scale of the violence has been exaggerated and blamed the MDC for instigating attacks. 

Hours before he was seized - while Mugabe is attending a UN food summit in Rome - Tsvangirai said: 'Mugabe is determined to turn the whole country into a war-zone in order to subvert the will of the people and steal the June 27 election by any means possible.'