ARUSHA, Jan 21 – The trial of some 30 opposition members and leaders on charges of illegal assembly that was due to start here Friday has been postponed until February 22, an AFP journalist reported.
"The investigations are not yet complete," the prosecutor\’s representative Zacharia Elisante told the court, prompting judge Charles Magesa to push back the date of the hearing.
Some 30 members of Chadema, among them the party\’s leader Freeman Mbowe and secretary general Wilbrod Slaa, were charged with illegal assembly on January 6, the day after police dispersed a protest march, leaving between two and five people dead.
Political protests that degenerate into violence are extremely rare on mainland Tanzania.