Tanzania saw heavy security deployment in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday as authorities moved to block planned Independence Day protests against the violent crackdown that followed the October elections.
Police and soldiers were deployed in large numbers across Dar es Salaam on Tuesday to stop planned protests against the violent crackdown on demonstrations that followed Tanzania’s October elections. Streets in the commercial capital were mostly empty, a Reuters witness said, after the government warned that any rallies on the country’s independence anniversary would be treated as an attempted coup.
The presidential and parliamentary elections on October 29 triggered the worst political unrest in Tanzania’s post-independence era, with the UN estimating that hundreds of people were killed. Security officers carried out ID checks across Dar es Salaam, and most shops in the Central Business District remained shut.
Residents said they feared fresh violence. Hamad Ali, who collects fares on a commuter bus, said services were halted out of concern for safety. Some activists claimed that small protests occurred in parts of Dar es Salaam and in Mwanza, though this could not be independently verified.
Police spokesperson David Misime said the situation nationwide was calm and dismissed videos circulating online as footage from earlier demonstrations. He urged the public to ignore them.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan secured a new term with nearly 98 percent of the vote after major opposition figures were barred from contesting. She set up a commission last month to examine the election-related violence but has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by security forces.
UN human rights experts said last week that at least 700 people were believed to have been extrajudicially killed in the unrest.
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