Tanzania’s police announced on Friday that planned nationwide protests next week are illegal. The warning raises fears of renewed clashes in a country still reeling from deadly unrest following October’s election.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner in the election after key opposition candidates were excluded.
The announcement sparked street protests across Tanzania. Security forces responded with brutal force, killing hundreds in what has been described as the deadliest political violence the country has seen in decades.
Impact of the October Crackdown
WPR contributor Sophie Neiman documented the violence through harrowing images and interviews with activists. They described a nation transformed by trauma. “Tanzania will never be the same again,” activists told Neiman during a briefing published last month.
Dan Paget, an assistant professor of politics at the University of Sussex, said the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party’s reputation has suffered.
Once seen as a party of benevolent leaders who helped secure Tanzania’s independence from the U.K., Paget said the party’s image is now “damaged for a generation.” Communities across Tanzania now carry the personal toll of the crackdown, he added.
Calls for Continued Resistance
In the wake of the violence, human rights activist Tito Magoti warned that opposition would continue. “Resistance. Resistance. Resistance,” he said, signaling that tensions in Tanzania are far from over.
The police ban on protests has heightened fears of more clashes and raised concerns among human rights groups about the potential for renewed violence.