Sentamu cuts up dog collar over Mugabe

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, dramatically cut up his dog collar live on television yesterday in a protest against Robert Mugabe's regime – and pledged not to wear the collar until Mugabe leaves power in Zimbabwe. Sentamu, a guest on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, was speaking as the Zimbabwean President attended the EU-African summit in Lisbon. The Archbishop said Mugabe had been "destroying the identities" of his people through oppression and economic mismanagement. Taking out his dog collar, Sentamu said Mugabe had "taken people's identity, literally... and cut it to pieces."

The Ugandan-born Sentamu, who fled the atrocities of dictator Idi Amin in his youth, said that his clerical collar "is what I wear to identify myself, that I'm a clergyman... As far as I am concerned, from now on I am not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone." Sentamu added that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been right to boycott the summit because of Mugabe's presence.