On Thursday, Zimbabwean police assaulted scores of opposition protesters and detained many outside a court in the capital Harare, after Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party members were granted bail after being arrested two weeks earlier.
A Harare court refused bail to the party’s temporary head, Jameson Timba, and 78 other activists detained on June 16 for establishing an illegal political assembly.
Timba took over as temporary head of the CCC after former leader Nelson Chamisa left the party in January, claiming it had been hijacked by the government ZANU-PF.
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Police anti-riot forces surrounded the court’s entrance, and the arrests came hours after President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised to deal with individuals suspected of provoking disturbance.
The arrest of one lady waving a banner requesting the activists’ release, as others got loaded into police vans and escaped baton-wielding officers.
The activists were denied release due to concerns that they would cause public interruptions and interfere with witnesses in the state’s case, according to their lawyer, Agency Gumbo, who told reporters outside court following the online bail hearing.
Gumbo stated that his team would appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court.
“We don’t think there are sufficient reasons for denying the accused persons bail.”
