In anticipation of elections next week, police in Zimbabwe detained 40 members of an opposition alliance as they were on the campaign trail.
On Tuesday, they were taken into custody in the Harare suburb of Glenview.
According to Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Fadzayi Mahere, Gladmore Hakata, the party’s candidate for the Glenview South MP seat, was detained.
The opposition party CCC engaged in activities that were not listed in their notification for a protest in the neighbourhood, according to a police statement posted on social media.
After a resident reported the incident, they paraded their vehicles through the streets, slowed down traffic, and screamed political slogans, according to the police.
The opposition requested last month that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission move to stop the use of the police to obstruct their rallies.
The CCC claims that since July 9 and for a total of about 100 events since the party’s formation in January of last year, the police have prohibited numerous of its meetings.
The front-runners in the election are Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the CCC, and President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
