Zimbabwe's popular independent Daily News - a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe's government - hit the stands yesterday four months after it was shut down by authorities but the government moved swiftly to close it again.

The Daily News paper published 100 000 copies of a thin eight-page edition that was quickly snapped up by curious and excited readers.

Some, unsure of the consequences of being seen reading a paper that has attracted the wrath of the government, were seen reading the issue hidden inside the bigger state-run Herald newspaper.

"The majority of people are happy. (The paper) was bought like fresh meat versus rotten meat," said a woman who gave her name only as Zvaitwa, not wanting to be identified.

"I saw police and army (military) officers, many of them, buying the paper, folding it and quickly hiding it in their stockings because they dare not be seen reading that paper," she said.

But the government yesterday filed urgent applications in the High Court seeking to stop the paper from continuing to publish, according to the paper's legal advisor.

Gugulethu Moyo said the media commission, which is responsible for licensing journalists and their papers, filed "an urgent interdict ... to stop our operations".

In addition, she said the minister of information, Jonathan Moyo, had filed a separate application in the High Court to have the Daily News and its sister Sunday paper declared illegal.

"The main basis of his argument is that the ANZ (parent company Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe) is using unaccredited journalists," she said.

The paper, which had been operating since early 1999, was forcibly closed by the authorities last September because it had failed to register with a state-appointed media commission set up by Mugabe after he was re-elected in controversial polls in March 2002.

The paper had battled since September to get permission to resume publishing. Five court rulings have been issued in favour of the paper since then.

The orders were largely ignored with the police vacating the premises briefly before returning.

The latest uninterrupted occupation of the paper's printing works by the police started on December 19 until Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the High Court in Harare again ordered police out of the paper's printing works, the third such order issued in just over a month.

That time, the police complied with the order, leaving the way open for the newspaper's presses to start rolling.

Observers had earlier Thursday expressed scepticism at the resumption of the operations and how long they could last.

Law lecturer and rights activist Lovemore Madhuku said it would be a "welcome surprise" if the authorities allowed it to continue operating.

"My own suspicions are that something will happen. I think they are still planning, and I don't think they will let go just like that," said Madhuku.

"It would be uncharacteristic of the regime".

Yesterday's issue was only the second of the Daily News to appear since September 12, when police raided the paper's premises and shut it down.

The previous issue was published on October 24 after the country's administrative court ordered that the media commission allow the paper to register and resume publishing.

None of the state-run media mentioned the Daily News's return to newsstands yesterday.

On whether the paper planned to publish today in the light of the pending litigation, the legal advisor said: "They (government) don't have any orders yet", suggesting they would proceed to publish.

The applications are set to be heard today.

The tabloid was Zimbabwe's best-selling daily with a readership of 900 000 prior to its forced closure.

The government has accused the paper of being a mouthpiece of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Its journalists were frequently arrested over their stories, and its printing press was bombed in 2001. – Sapa-AFP.