(independantexpress.net)
The new law on public demonstrations passed in August 2019 dealt a blow to opposition parties. Since then, many demonstrations have been banned and the opposition has found itself in a situation of powerlessness.
It is the turn of the ruling party to submit to this law.
The latest news is that the ruling UNIR party is planning a huge demonstration on the streets of the capital, Lomé, on Tuesday, to implore their leader Faure GNASSINGBE to run in the presidential election on 22 February 2020.
We should expect to see a human tide flooding the streets, chanting the slogans of the ruling party. This new imagination developed by the UNIR party is undoubtedly a political maneuver aimed at creating conditions conducive to the candidacy of Faure GNASSINGBE who is called upon by international opinion to renounce the fourth term.
As usual, vehicles will be made available to the poor inhabitants of the remote villages of Togo and a small sum for their participation in this march.
Such staging is a common practice.
It should be noted, however, that according to the law, any organization or political party wishing to demonstrate must send a newsletter to the Ministry of Territorial Administration 72 hours before the start of the demonstration. One wonders whether the regime has complied with this rule.
Moreover, the big question is whether the new law on demonstrations, known as the Boukpessi law, will be respected by the UNIR party.
It should be remembered that according to this new version of the law governing demonstrations, demonstrations are prohibited on certain axes and areas: all national roads, axes or areas where strong economic activities take place in the centres. axes and areas close to the Republic's institutions, axes and areas close to the chanceries and residences of ambassadors and representatives of international organizations, axes and areas close to military camps and camps security service.
The law had led many human rights organizations to be outraged. This situation led the United Nations to send a recommendation by mail to the Togolese state requesting further deliberation of the law or certain articles.
Despite all these reminders to order, the regime has stubbornly maintained this liberticidal law.
For example, since September 2019, opposition parties have been stripped of the right to protest by civil society movements and associations.
Now it is UNIR's turn to comply with this law. For Tuesday's march, it is hoped that the regime will respect this law, which has been decried everywhere and seen as a law restricting individual freedoms.
We can't wait for this measure to be respected by supporters of the ruling party. They will then have to remember that the route has only one starting point, one stretch of road and one drop point.
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