Police probing protestors' link to opposition party

Police in Zanzibar have begun investigations into the possible link between protestors who clashed with them recently and the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), a senior police official told IRIN on Monday. "Many protesters were CUF members," Juma Mtumwa Abdallah, the assistant regional police commander, said on Monday. He added that the police were also looking into the protestors' possible links with other anti-Western political parties and terrorist groups. "We are investigating any link and will be contacting the US embassy [in Dar es Salaam] with some names of those involved," he said. Sporadic violence erupted on Friday on Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, as Muslims defied a ban on their proposed protest. Four people were injured and at least 32 arrested. Police said there were 300 protesters, among them women and children. Police said they used "teargas and some reasonable force as the demonstration was illegal". The demonstration was against the original ban on a march planned by a movement called Uamsho. The demonstrators were also protesting increasing Western influence on the islands. "They were protesting against the law [Act No 7 of 2003] that establishes the Mufti as the overseer of all Muslim activities on the island," Abdallah said. "And they were also saying that Zanzibar should not develop its tourism policies, because it brings prostitution and liquor to the island." Abdallah added: "We are worried. We saw the expression of anti-Western sentiments in Morocco and Yemen [where Western establishments were targeted by terrorists in 2003] so we can't rule out that we might be starting to see similar patterns here." The US embassy said that it was too early to comment on the matter, but CUF on Monday denied any link with the protestors, saying that the issue involved Muslims and, therefore, "went beyond party lines". "If there were any CUF members, they were demonstrating as Muslims, not CUF," Ismail Jussa, a senior CUF official, told IRIN. "We said publicly that we saw no reason for there to be tension and we are surprised at how the government has created this tension by not allowing the demonstration,” he said. “If the government continues to suppress human rights and people's freedom, then there will be tension." An observer on Zanzibar, who requested anonymity, questioned the police's link between the demonstrations and political parties, saying the problem had arisen more as a result of provocation. "These Muslims have certain aggravations," the observer said. "The police are still refusing to let them demonstrate and it leads to conflict. It is the attitude of the police - as it happened before." Protests on Zanzibar have resulted in violence several times over the last few years. In the worst incident, at least 40 opposition supporters died at the hand of the police during politically related violence in January 2001. Donors have since provided training and equipment in an attempt to improve the force's handling of protest marches and tense situations.