A Zimbabwean court has dismissed charges against a religious leader accused of trying to overthrow the government through an internet campaign that inspired rare protests against President Robert Mugabe.

Pastor Evan Mawarire appeared in a packed Harare courtroom draped in the Zimbabwean flag after spending the night in police cells as officers searched his house, church and office.

Magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe said prosecutors presented different charges from those read out to Mawarire when he was arrested.

“It’s my finding that the National Prosecuting Authority cannot charge the accused for the first time in court without charges being read out to him,” Chikwekwe told the court.

Mawarire’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo said his client initially faced charges of inciting violence before prosecutors changed the charge to attempting to overthrow the government, which carries up to 20 years in jail in found guilty.

Hundreds of Mawarire’s supporters gathered outside the court, waving the national flag and singing protest songs, as anti-riot police kept a watchful eye.

“We are here in solidarity with a man of the cloth who is standing against a system that has impoverished the citizens of this nation,” Harare resident Pastor Ellard said.

Though Mawarire had called for further ‘stay at home’ protests on Wednesday, queues built up as normal at bus and taxi ranks to ferry people to work, while most businesses were open.

Teachers reported for duty at most public schools, which are conducting mid-year examinations, while nurses and doctors were at work at state-run hospitals.

Mawarire last month posted a video online that has since gone viral, venting his anger about deteriorating social and economic conditions in Zimbabwe and urging citizens to hold government to account.

The preacher’s social media movement has rattled 92-year-old Mugabe’s administration, leading to accusations by the state against Mawarire of inciting public violence.

Anger is rising in Zimbabwe over high unemployment, corruption in government and shortages of money, which has seen people spending hours in bank queues to withdraw their money.

Zimbabwe’s government warned protesters on Tuesday they would face the ‘full wrath of the law’ if they heeded Mawarire’s call, after his #ThisFlag movement organised the biggest anti-government demonstrations in a decade last week.

After his arrest, Mawarire supporters released a pre-recorded video urging Zimbabweans to stage another stay-away protest on Wednesday.

Amnesty International said Mawarire’s arrest was a calculated plan by Zimbabwean authorities to intimidate activists ahead of Wednesday’s protests.

“Instead of suppressing dissenting voices, Zimbabwean authorities should be listening to protesters like Evan Mawarire,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s deputy director for southern Africa.

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The UN is considering an emergency request from regional leaders to send an intervention brigade to Juba that could secure the airport and separate the warring sides.

The consideration comes in the wake reports that renewed fighting could break out in South Sudan despite a two-day ceasefire that followed a major outbreak of violence in the capital, Juba, in which almost 300 people were killed.

“We remain very worried about the potential for the resumption of violence and spillover into other parts of the country, as we have seen in the past,” The United Nations peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council in New York yesterday as Germany pulled about 100 of its nationals out of the country.

The UN’s worries come as Vice President Riek Machar urged the organisation on Wednesday to establish a ‘buffer zone’ between his forces and government troops who are loyal to President Salva Kiir.

Machar’s forces have fled the capital to an undisclosed location, and a spokesman said that the vice president ‘does not feel safe’ enough to return to Juba.

At least 272 people were killed in fighting on Friday, Sunday and Monday. Saturday saw the two sides pause to mark the fifth anniversary of South Sudan’s independence.

The UN’s Ladsous said he was convinced the death toll was ‘only the tip of the iceberg’ because many civilians were barred from reaching safer grounds such as UN compounds.

At least 42,000 people have fled their homes in the latest flare-up, with 7,000 taking shelter in UN peacekeeping bases. Aid groups and churches in the city have taken in 35,000 people.

“Government troops appear to be in full control of Juba but opposition forces remain around the west of the city and “further clashes cannot be ruled out,” Ladsous said.

On Wednesday, President Kiir issued an amnesty to soldiers who fought government troops.

The East African IGAD trade bloc of eight countries called on the UN to strengthen the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan with more troops and better equipment, including attack helicopters.

UN officials are leaning on African governments to beef up the mission, known as UNMISS, before an African Union summit on Sunday in Kigali, where the crisis will be discussed.

The Security Council is also considering an appeal from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for an arms embargo to be imposed on South Sudan and sanctions targeted against commanders responsible for violence.

South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 after President Kiir fired Machar, unleashing a wave of violence that has left tens of thousands dead.

Although Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in August last year, fighting has continued.

South Sudan’s UN Ambassador Akuei Bona Malwal described the latest fighting as a ‘setback’ that his government considered part of ‘a learning curve’, adding that he remained committed to the peace deal.

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