Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has accused police of using live ammunition at an event attended by its leader Nelson Chamisa on Sunday.

Police however say they only used teargas canisters after the crowd, which was preventing people from accessing the Dombotombo clinic, refused to disperse.

MDC spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda told the BBC that police fired live rounds at opposition leaders as they arrived at a tree planting event held in Marondera, east of the capital Harare.

He said that four people were injured in the incident.

Tweeting about the incident, the party's leader claimed he took cover to evade police gunshots.

In his words: “Gunshots and canisters. So shocked by the behaviour of the police, armed with guns and weapons, as they besieged the venue and started taking aim at us as we were planting trees at Dombotombo clinic in Marondera today. Had to take cover. I can’t get this excessive use of violence.”

The MDC has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government of imposing a defacto ban on its activities.

But the government accuses the party of capitalising on the country's economic crisis to foment political unrest.