▲ On October 30, people are protesting in Arusha, Tanzania, one day after the general election after suspicions of election fraud were raised.
In celebration of Independence Day on the 9th (local time) in Tanzania, East Africa, a recent series of social media posts foreshadowed large-scale protests against the bloodshed following the presidential election, and the police took action to ban related gatherings.
According to the AFP news agency on the 6th (local time), the Tanzanian police said in a statement the night before, “To date, no individual or group has reported in advance the ‘indefinite peaceful protest’ spread on social media,” and added, “As of today, all protests described as peaceful and indefinite are prohibited.”
“The mobilizing forces urged participants to seize private property, disrupt hospital services, and occupy the streets indefinitely to paralyze economic activity,” police spokesman David Misime explained.
According to Reuters, a group of UN human rights experts urged Tanzanian authorities on the 3rd to take additional measures to guarantee the right to assembly and prevent human rights violations.
AFP added that amid growing international criticism, the U.S. government also said it would “comprehensively review its relationship with Tanzania following the presidential election violence.”
In the presidential election in Tanzania on October 29, which was held amid controversy over fairness by excluding the main and second opposition parties, President Samia Suluhu Hassan succeeded in reappointing a second term with an overwhelming vote rate of 97.66%.
However, from the day of the presidential election, violent protests against unfair elections continued in the largest city, Dar es Salaam, and bloodshed occurred as the military and police suppressed them.
The main opposition party, CHADEMA, claimed that more than 1,000 people died as a result of the authorities’ strong crackdown on protests that took place in the days following the presidential election, but the government denied this.
The government has so far not announced the number of casualties in response to claims that the military and police used excessive force, saying it was in response to the violence of criminal forces.
(Photo = AP, Yonhap News)
Reporter Park Jae-hyeon replay@sbs.co.kr
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