Several opposition and civil society members arrested

Sixty-eight members of the Zambian opposition and civil society participating in an "illegal" demonstration were arrested on Monday in the capital, Lusaka, according to an official. The protest was organised to pressurise the Zambian government to enact a new constitution before elections in 2006. Police spokeswoman Brenda Muntemba said 11 of the people held were members of parliament. "They [the 68] will be bonded and will appear in court soon," she said. "We have been charged with unlawful assembly and are still in custody," Lucy Muyoyeta, chair of the Non Governmental Organisations' Coordinating Council, told IRIN. "It is a dark day for Zambian democracy," said Patrick Chisanga, spokesman for the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND). Chisanaga said the UPND vice president, Bob Shichinga, and two members of parliament from his party were among those arrested. He told IRIN that the police had blocked all the roads leading to the city centre earlier in the morning, "so people could not participate in the demonstration". In a statement released on Monday, the Zambian police said the UPND had failed to notify the authorities about the protest action. Zambia's new constitution is currently being drafted by a commission appointed in 2003 by President Levy Mwanawasa. The NGOs and the opposition both want the constitutional review to be undertaken by a more representative Constituent Assembly (CA), rather than the current Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). Their rejection of the process is largely due to concerns that most of the CRC commissioners are presidential appointees, and that the president has the power to reject the commission's recommendations. Mwanawasa's government has repeatedly dismissed the proposed CA as overly "expensive, cumbersome, and lacking the legitimacy" that the government enjoys by virtue of being elected. Chisanga said the UPND would continue organising protests in other towns next week.