Harare - Zimbabwe police Friday dismissed reports that they had violated international protocols on Thursday during an incident in a rural area where United States diplomats say they were threatened with violence and had the tyres of their vehicles slashed.

Police also denied reports that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change who is challenging President Robert Mugabe in the second round run-off in presidential elections on June 27, had been arrested by police on Wednesday.

Controversy broke out Thursday when a group of US diplomats was on a tour of the Bindura district about 100 kilometres north-east of Harare, investigating reports of widespread violence in the area against MDC supporters.

US ambassador James McGee said police had tried to order the diplomats to the police station, effectively to arrest them, in violation of their diplomatic immunity.

He said police slashed the embassy vehicle's tyres and that a crowd of armed war veterans had threatened to set alight to the vehicle and burn the diplomats inside it.

Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, quoted Friday in the state-controlled daily Herald newspaper, claimed that the diplomats had "refused to identify themselves" when stopped by police and "attempted to flee, and almost ran over police officers."

He said the diplomats "locked their doors and shut their windows, prompting police to deflate the tyres" of the embassy vehicle. "The situation was amicably resolved and they were allowed to proceed," he claimed.

He also said reports that Tsvangirai and several other officials of the MDC leadership had been arrested near the village of Lupane in western Zimbabwe on Wednesday were "false." MDC officials said they were stopped at a roadblock at midday, taken to the police station and kept there for nearly 12 hours until just before midnight.

He claimed that police had merely asked the driver of one of the MDC vehicles to accompany police to the police station because the papers of the vehicle were not in order. "Whereupon TSvangirai's entire convoy, which had been cleared to proceed, decided to follow the driver.

"No-one was ever arrested or detained," he said. "There is this insinuation that the force is stopping certain people from carrying out their campaigns. I want to reiterate that the police have nothing to do with this."

Reporters accompanying Tsvangirai on his campaign confirm he has not been able to hold a single rally since he returned from abroad two weeks ago, because of police harassment. (dpa)