Zimbabwe court tells govt to allow opposition rally Reuters Date posted:Sun 18-Feb-2007 Date published:Sat 17-Feb-2007
Back to previous page		Ruled that the police had been given adequate notice of the party's plans and must not try to stop the meeeting going ahead By Cris Chinaka Harare - Zimbabwe's High Court ordered the government on Saturday to let a major opposition rally go ahead, ruling that the police had been given adequate notice of the party's plans and must not try to stop the meeeting going ahead. The court hearing was in response to an urgent appeal by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change after its planned rally in a poor, volatile Harare township was banned because the police said they would not have enough manpower to monitor it. The MDC has said it will use the rally on Sunday to launch its campaign for presidential elections due in March 2008 but which the ruling Zanu PF party plans to put off to 2010. Political tension is rising in the southern African country over the bad and worsening economic situation, and workers, including some doctors, teachers and university lecturers have embarked on job boycotts to press for higher wages. The MDC said more than 20 of its members, including some legislators, had been detained on Saturday on false charges of assaulting police officers during a brief protest on Friday and said it would take legal action to have them released. On the rally, High Court Judge Mary-Anne Gowora ruled that the MDC had given the police ample notice of its plans. "The judge has accepted the arguments by the applicant in this case and the police have been interdicted from unlawfully interfering with, or prohibiting the rally set for tomorrow," MDC lawyer Jessie Majome told reporters after a chamber hearing by the judge. State lawyer Clement Muchengi confirmed the order but declined to give details. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa welcomed the ruling, but said the party could be back in court in the coming days to fight for the release of those detained on Friday. "Our tally is that 20 people are under arrest on these false charges, and it's all part of political harassment," he said. Chief police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was not immediately available for comment. But state media said the police were searching for MDC officials suspected of severely assaulting and injuring several policemen during a street march in Harare. Last week President Robert Mugabe said he would crack down on all anti-government protests, including those called by the MDC to fight Zanu PF plans to extend his term by two years to 2010 so that presidential and parliamentary elections could be held at the same time. Mugabe, 83 and Zimbabwe's ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has kept the opposition in check mainly through tough policing, including routine deployment of security forces to crush all street protests. Political analysts say although Zimbabweans have largely been cowed by Mugabe's tactics, the crumbling economy has increased public frustration with the government. The country is wrestling with shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, unemployment of 80 percent and the highest inflation rate in the world of 1,600 percent.