Zimbabweans were bracing themselves for a possible showdown after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it would defy a court order barring it from holding mass demonstrations beginning today.

The MDC said it would go ahead with the mass actions through Friday, saying the court order was invalid, in the first call by the organisation for its members to take to the streets against the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Fears of violence were running high. Roadblocks were mounted on major routes leading into the capital yesterday, with cars being stopped and searched.

Police warned late yesterday they would enforce the court order "to the fullest letter of the law".

"Anyone who would want to participate in the illegal mass action will face the full wrath of the law," state television quoted a police spokesperson as saying.

The MDC blames Mugabe's government for the crippling economic problems in the country and says it has popular support for the marches.

Inflation is running at 269% and shortages of food, fuel and bank notes are causing intense hardships for Zimbabweans.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters the protests would go ahead in defiance of a court order obtained late Saturday by police chief Augustine Chihuri barring the planned demonstrations.

The opposition leader told reporters yesterday the court order was not legally binding.

"The provisional order given to me is not binding on me or the MDC... the mass action will proceed as planned," he said.

The government says the planned protests are tantamount to organising a coup d'etat.

The interim court order granted by High Court Judge Ben Hlatshwayo forbids the MDC and Tsvangirai from "organising, urging or suggesting or setting up the mass demonstrations intended to remove the lawfully-elected president".

But Tsvangirai said the order was full of irregularities.

"This court order is so full of irregularities it's not binding on us," he said, citing the fact that the papers had not given a date for the hearing and were not signed by the police commissioner.

He warned his supporters not to be intimidated by shows of force by the army or police.

This is the first time the MDC has called on its supporters to take to the streets. People have been panic buying this week amid fears of a mass shutdown.

Soldiers and police were deployed in populous suburbs on Saturday in what a spokesperson said was a bid to "reassure peace-loving Zimbabweans that the uniformed forces have the capacity to deal with anarchy, sabotage and banditry".

"If the people of Zimbabwe are going to be intimidated by army or police presence then they must accept the status quo for ever," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai's defiance is likely to anger the government, which said it welcomed the ruling.

"The idea that anyone... can wake up one day and threaten to organise hooligans and Rhodesian Selous Scouts (white soldiers) to take to the streets to march to State House to oust a democratically and constitutionally elected president is repugnant," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper.

In a statement published in the private press yesterday, the MDC claimed that Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) had hired militias to put on MDC T-shirts "to confuse and manipulate our intended peaceful marches".

Eleven MDC youths were arrested at the weekend in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru, and seven others in the low-income Harare suburb of Dzivarasekwa after violence erupted, state radio said.

An earlier stayaway called by the MDC in March was followed by the arrests of hundreds of party supporters, human rights groups said.

"Zimbabwe's political landscape will never be the same again after this week," Tsvangirai said yesterday. – Sapa-AFP.