The Tanzanian government has deployed police and military personnel to block a planned Independence Day protest called by activists demanding accountability for violence linked to the country’s October elections.
In response to the planned demonstration, the country’s police officers and soldiers have been sent into major streets, conducting stop-and-search operations and checking identification to deter any form of public gathering.
The heightened security measures were taken on Tuesday, coinciding with the anniversary of mainland Tanzania’s independence from Britain in 1961, a day activists had earlier proposed for nationwide demonstrations.
The deployment was concentrated in Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial capital, where residents reported the presence of patrol teams across key routes.
Some locals and activists on social media claimed that small protests had begun in parts of the city, though these reports could not be immediately verified.
The East African government have admitted using force against protesters, claiming that some groups were attempting to overthrow the regime.
“Any protests today would be treated as a direct challenge to national stability,” the administration warned. A police spokesperson, however, did not respond to requests for comment.
The tensions follow the October 29 presidential and parliamentary elections in which President Samia Suluhu Hassan secured nearly 98 per cent of the vote after major opposition candidates were barred from running.
The aftermath sparked the worst political violence in Tanzania’s post-independence era, with UN human rights experts estimating that at least 700 people were extrajudicially killed, although the government has not released its own figures.
In a related development, the United States said it was reassessing its relationship with Tanzania over concerns about excessive force against civilians, restrictions on speech and religious freedom, and barriers to investment.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders accused the government of orchestrating disappearances of dozens of critics in the months leading up to the polls an issue President Hassan said she had ordered investigated, though no findings have been made public.
