Tanzanian police crack down on planned opposition rally

Leaders arrested following police chief’s warning of tough measures to block protest.

Police have cracked down on a planned protest against the government organised by Tanzania’s main opposition party.

The leaders of Chadema were arrested on Monday, the party said. Further arrests were made on the streets of the Magomeni area of the capital Dar-es-Salaam where protesters were gathering for a rally against alleged killings and abductions of government critics.

The crackdown extends fears of renewed political repression in the East African country ahead of upcoming local elections and next year’s national vote.

Video footage posted on X by Chadema showed police arresting the party chairman, Freeman Mbowe, as he arrived “to lead a peaceful protest”.

A separate post showed police outside the home of deputy chairman Tundu Lissu before he was taken into custody.

Police said they had arrested 14 people, including Mbowe and Lissu, for defying a prohibition on the protests.

In advance of these arrests, the police were seen blockading the homes of both party leaders.

Lissu, who survived an assassination attempt in 2016 despite being shot 16 times, earlier wrote on social media platform X that three police vehicles full of officers in riot gear were outside his house.

“They’ve informed me I’m directed to be taken to the Regional Crimes Officer. I’m getting ready to go,” he said.

Over the weekend, Dar-es-Salaam police chief Jumanne Muliro had warned that the planned rally would breach the peace and that his officers would take strict action to prevent it.

Riot police with water cannon have been deployed across key areas of the city since Saturday.

Chadema has accused the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of returning Tanzania to the repressive tactics of her predecessor, John Magufuli.

Hassan took over in March 2021 following Magufuli’s sudden death and initially appeared to signal a more open democracy, reversing restrictions on opposition rallies and the media.

But Chadema now accuses security forces of being behind the disappearance of several members and the killing of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a senior party official who authorities said was doused with acid and beaten to death last month.

In a speech broadcast on X on Sunday, Mbowe insisted that the planned protest would be peaceful.

“We are neither carrying any weapons nor planning to violate the peace as some people allege,” he said. “We have seen the deployment of armed police officers in the city but we are ready to face them.”

When Chadema last tried to hold a rally in August, police arrested hundreds.

Rights groups and Western governments, including the United States, have criticised the crackdowns as “antidemocratic”.