Zim trade union urges citizens to defy protest ban

People walk past as riot police water canons are seen at the venue where the opposition parties had planned to hold a protest in Harare. Photo: Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

People walk past as riot police water canons are seen at the venue where the opposition parties had planned to hold a protest in Harare. Photo: Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo

Published Sep 2, 2016

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Harare - The Zimbabwean government’s ban of demonstrations was a serious attack on the rights of citizens, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Friday, calling for people to resist the ban.

“The right to demonstrate remains one of the most fundamental rights the world over and depriving people of this right, no matter under what circumstances, is a serious threat to freedom of expression and an attack on civil liberties,” ZCTU secretary general, Japhet Moyo said in a statement.

He said the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 101 (a) of 2016 by the government banning all demonstrations in the country’s capital for the next two weeks was as good as returning the country to the colonial era.

Moyo said the banning, which came a day before the planned demonstration by a group of political parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) to press for electoral reforms, was a clear sign that Zimbabwe was sliding into an authoritarian state.

Moyo said the government was being paranoid as it faced angry citizens who were demanding better governance from the regime of President Robert Mugabe.

“Only recently the police refused to respect a High Court order that granted political parties under the banner of National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) the right to demonstrate,” Moyo said.

He called on the government to lift the ban forthwith.

African News Agency

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