BELIZE CITY, Belize (CMC): A High Court here has granted the opposition United Democratic Party an injunction barring the police from denying the party permission to hold a protest rally in Belmopan yesterday.

Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh's ruling means that the party can go ahead with a public rally and demonstration on the steps of the National Assembly building yesterday, toprotest the passage of a motion in the House of Representatives that would authorise Prime Minister Said Musa to bail out a faltering private hospital to the tune of BZ$29 (US $14.5) million.

The opposition took the matter to court after Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow, received a letter from acting Commissioner of Police, Maureen Leslie, which said that permission for the rally would not be granted because of breaches of an agreement a week earlier when demonstrators clashed with police.