World

A Zimbabwe entertainment promoter says police have released two popular dancers without charge after questioning them under the nation's strict indecency laws.

Happers Mapimhidze said Friday the women, both in their 20s and known for routines that triggered a pole dancing craze across Zimbabwe, held performance licenses and their scant costumes were approved by the state Board of Censors.

Police detained the women after complaints that their routines exceeded the country's deeply conservative attitudes towards public obscenity.

The promoter says the dancers do not strip naked and that police found no case against them. He says weekend shows will be held for the dancers' night club audiences.

The dancers say they introduced "gymnastic-style, exotic" pole dancing in Zimbabwe for the first time two years ago.