Arrest me again, Hichilema tells Sata
2013-01-28 07:40
Lusaka - Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema on
Sunday challenged President Michael Sata to arrest him again as his party held
the first opposition rally allowed by authorities since Sata's election in
September 2011.
"I will not stop speaking for the Zambians, and if Sata
wants let him arrest me even for 200 times. The man has failed and he wants to
arrest opposition leaders. I will not stop speaking for the people of
Zambia," Hichilema told thousands of supporters of his United Party for
National Development (UPND), the country's second-largest opposition party.
Hichilema has been arrested in the past - most recently on 17
January - and is currently facing trial on charges of defaming the president
and false publication.
The rally in the capital Lusaka is the first since Sata's
Patriotic Front (PF) swept to victory in the 2011 elections, booting out the
Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), which had been in power for 20 years.
After the election, Zambia won praise for the peaceful
transition of power, but opposition leaders have since accused Sata's
government of waging an anti-democratic crack-down on them.
The police have repeatedly denied opposition parties
permission to hold rallies.
Hichilema accused Sata of dictatorship, and said Zambians
were suffering as much under his rule as under that of his predecessor Rupiah
Banda.
"We jumped from a pan to fire. What we want is real
change, and change for the better. We know Sata is a violent man, but today,
this is a great day for Zambia, we have broken his backbone of dictatorship.
Other opposition parties should start holding rallies," he said.
Earlier, Sata supporters tried to disrupt the rally, but
police managed to remove them from the grounds.
Zambia's police chief Stella Libongani suggested the
opposition party cancel the rally, saying her officers were outnumbered by PF
supporters.
"I think just postpone this meeting, there are more PF
cadres than we are," she was heard telling a UPND lawmaker at the rally.
- SAPA
