Protests and demonstrations

The applicants sought a declaration that section 24 of the Public Order and Security Act (the Act) contravened sections 20 and 21 of the Constitution that provide for the freedoms of expression, assembly and association.

Section 24 of the Act provides that the organiser of a public gathering is required to issue a well written notice, four days before an intended gathering, to the regulating authority for the area in which the meeting is to be held, and that if he fails to do so, he commits an offence.

This application sought a provisional order to interdict the police from unlawfully interfering with their constitutional right to freedom of assembly, freedom from violence and freedom to demonstrate peacefully. The applicants argued that the actions of the police were unlawful and constituted a threat to applicants’ rights and fundamental freedoms, and contempt of the Constitution.

The appellant, the secretary general of the University of Zambia Students Union, together with his president obtained a permit from the police for the students to hold a public rally at the Kafue Roundabout.   They were later informed that the permit had been cancelled and called to the State House where the   president ordered them not   to   hold  their rally at Kafue Roundabout but at UNZA. The students, however, proceeded with the march at Kafue Roundabout. They were blocked by the police who told them to disburse. The students refused and were arrested.