Police made no attempt to intervene, media reports stated, despite a ruling by Zimbabwe's high court that Bakare's supporters in the Anglican Church should be allowed to worship in the cathedral. Instead, the February 3 ceremony to install Bakare later went ahead at a sports center.

Kunonga was dismissed as bishop of Harare following his announcement of the withdrawal of his diocese from the Central Africa province after he had asserted the province had failed to censure bishops sympathetic to homosexuals.

The church province, which covers the countries of Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, appointed retired bishop Bakare as acting head of the Harare diocese.

Kunonga has refused to move out of the cathedral, arguing he is the legitimate leader of the Anglican Church in Harare.

In recent weeks, parishioners said police had forcibly stopped Sunday services in Harare churches where clergy had publicly refused to acknowledge the authority of Kunonga, who is known as a staunch supporter of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party.

In its January 31 ruling, the country's high court said that Kunonga's Harare diocese did not exist in law as a separate entity.

"It cannot exist outside the [Church of the Province of Central Africa] constitution," High Court judge Charles Hungwe ruled in his judgment on January 31. He dismissed an appeal by Kunonga to bar Bakare from using church property for worship. The court had ruled earlier that the followers of both Kunonga and Bakare should be allowed to worship in the cathedral.