TWENTY-one pro-democracy activists, arrested at the weekend for
involvement in anti-government demonstrations, were freed on bail on
Monday, a lawyer said.
Alec Muchadehama said that 21 officials and members of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), who were arrested during
protest marches on Saturday against the government of President Robert
Mugabe, have appeared in court and released on bail of 500 Zimbabweans dollars ($10) each.
They have not been charged yet and the ruling will be announced
on Wednesday, according to the lawyer.
The activists, including NCA chairman and university law
lecturer Lovemore Madhuku, were arrested under the country’s tough
new security law.
Police and Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo said last week that
the protests were illegal and warned Zimbabweans not to
participate.
The NCA had planned to hold protests simultaneously in five
cities around Zimbabwe, but riot police patrolling the cities
prevented any large groups from gathering.
However, small groups numbering a few hundred each managed to
take to the streets of the capital before police dispersed them.
The NCA has announced plans for a series of demonstrations aimed
at forcing the government to accept a more democratic constitution,
which the group says would prevent the abuses that aided President
Robert Mugabe’s re-election in the March 9-11 presidential poll.
The next protest is set for Independence Day, on April 18.
The current constitution, negotiated with the former colonial
master Britain at independence in 1980, gives Mugabe broad
executive powers, which he used to change electoral rules up to the
day before voting began.
The NCA, along with the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and independent observers, have declared Mugabe’s
election victory illegitimate. – Sapa-AFP