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| - Two leaders of a Malawian anti-government group were arrested Sunday on treason charges, a few hours after president Peter Mutharika warned the organisation against protest action. The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) group is accused of contravening the Police Act by unlawfully mobilising people to shut state residences -- the homes of top government officials -- according to a charge sheet. HRDC have been holding nationwide protests since the Malawi Electoral Commission announced the results of last May's disputed elections in which Mutharika was declared winner with 35.8 percent of the vote. Organisation leader Billy Mayaya told AFP his colleagues Gift Trapence and MacDonald Sembereka were picked up by police in the capital Lilongwe on Sunday evening and there were reports that they would be transferred to second city Blantyre overnight. Mayaya said that while only two leaders had been arrested so far, they had been told that arrest warrants had been issued for the entire leadership. "I am told they are looking for all of us," he said, adding that he was in hiding. HRDC leaders in Lilongwe on Friday vowed to shut down three state residences in a bid to force Mutharika to assent to electoral bills that were recently passed in parliament. The coalition also demanded that Mutharika fire the electoral body's commissioners and appoint new ones before fresh elections are held on May 19. Giving a deadline of March 25, the HRDC's Timothy Mtambo said at least five million people would be mobilised to shut down all state residences. A few hours before the arrests, Mutharika on Sunday warned HRDC members against protest action around state residences on May 25. "Be warned, your time is up, the party is over, get up and smell the coffee," Mutharika said, adding that the organisation leaders were not bigger than the government. str-mgu/har
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