Police Arrest 44 Gays And Lesbians Attending A Party

The members were arrested while holding a party at the association’s offices.

They were released on Sunday without charge.

Earlier on the organisation had launched a book chronicling human rights violations against their members at the Book Cafe.

According to their lawyer, Marufu Mandevere, 44 Galz members were arrested and taken to Harare Central Police station.

The Galz officials, who have in the past suffered harassment from the police and politicians, had earlier on launched their organisation’s report titled “Galz Rights Violations Report” before holding a party at their offices.

“They came in and switched off the radio and took Galz property including banners and other material. 44 people were taken to the Harare Central police and I followed them there. They were released today without charge,” said Mandevere.

Galz deplored the arrested and detention of its members in a statement.

“GALZ deplores the arrest of 44 members of GALZ who had attended the launch of the GALZ Violations Report and a briefing on the Second Draft of the Zimbabwe Constitution on 11 August 2012 at the GALZ offices,” the statement read.

“Police, some of them visibly drunk, assaulted most of the members using baton sticks, open hands and clenched fists before detaining them without charge. Such use of force is in direct contradiction to the Global Political Agreement. Denying Zimbabweans the right to participate in processes that compliment National efforts is an infringement of the right to freedom of assembly and association.”

Zimbabwe has just concluded the process of drafting a new constitution for the country.