Zambia: CDDR Denounces Mass Arrests of Civil Society Members and Students in Zambia

press release

The Coalition for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CDDR) is demanding that the Patriotic Front-led Government of Zambia halt its unlawful arrests of citizens for exercising their constitutional rights by participating in protests.

On Friday, May 17, the Zambian police arrested approximately two dozen citizens during a protest rally against the government's recent removal of fuel and maize subsidies, which have posed unsustainable cost increases. Among those arrested were eight members of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), a non-governmental organisation that has been threatened by the PF government in the past. In a separate incident, a small number of female students from the University of Zambia (UNZA) were arrested following a riot at the school, and were allegedly subjected to verbal and physical abuse by the arresting officers.

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