Unrest rocks Zambia by-elections
18/02/2008 12:39  - (SA)  

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Lusaka - Dozens of Zambian opposition and ruling party supporters were arrested after they clashed during campaigning in a parliamentary by-election in the capital, said police on Monday.

A total of 25 people were initially detained and 18 people remained in custody after the clashes in Kanyama, a densely-populated constituency near the centre of Lusaka, said a local police commander.

Supporters of the main Patriotic Front opposition party marched to the police station, carrying machetes and stones to demand the release of their colleagues while ruling party supporters threw stones at them, police said.

Intermittent violence was first reported last week, but worsened over the weekend.

The Patriotic Front was trying to maintain control of the seat after one of its parliamentarians died, while the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) wanted to show its support base in the capital had increased.

The MMD lost all key urban parliamentary seats in the 2006 general elections to the opposition PF, which was led by the populist politician Michael Sata.

Riot police officers had been deployed in the area to help calm the situation, police said.

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