By- The 25 members of the opposition CCC who were arrested on Saturday have been denied bail.

The opposition members appeared at Harare magistrate’s courts Monday under heavy police escort.

They were arrested in Budiriro while meeting in a private house.

Their arrests come after a wave of politically motivated violence against opposition supporters in rural Zimbabwe, raising fears of repression ahead of the presidential election this year.

The courts remanded the 25 in custody to tomorrow, Tuesday.

According to CCC, the private internal strategy meeting was held this morning at the private residence of one of the members in Budiriro township, about 15 kilometres from central Harare.
“It wasn’t open to the public at all. The Maintenance of Peace and Order Act only applies to public meetings in a public place,” CCC spokeswoman Fadzayi Mahere told Reuters.
Police allegedly fired teargas at the gathering and beat up several opposition members before they were bundled into a police truck, she added.

Some of the CCC activists arrested at the weekend
Zimbabwean law requires political parties to notify authorities two weeks before holding a political meeting.
“Zanu PF must stop abusing the police to stifle competition,” Mahere said.
CCC, led by the youthful Nelson Chamisa, will battle ZANU-PF’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the second time after he narrowly lost the 2018 vote.
The opposition party, born out of the old Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), enjoys massive urban support and is seen as a threat to ZANU-PF’s 43-year-old stranglehold on power.
(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Editing by Christina Fincher)