The Opposition Claims Hundreds Of Tanzanian Protesters Around 700 Already Dead.

The opposition claims that "hundreds" were killed in Tanzania during post-election protests. Young people have demonstrated in the streets against restricted election choices and opposition leaders' harassment.

Tanzania’s main opposition party has claimed that “around 700” people were killed in protests following this week’s disputed elections, the AFP news agency is reporting.
“As we speak, the number of deaths in [Dar-es-Salaam] is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza,” Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka told AFP, referring to a city in northern Tanzania.  “If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths.”
 
 The opposition claims that "hundreds" were killed in Tanzania during post-election protests. Young people have demonstrated in the streets against restricted election choices and opposition leaders' harassment.

 As fires blaze, protesters gather in the streets. On Wednesday, the day of the election, there was a demonstration in the streets of Arusha, Tanzania,
 
Tanzania’s main opposition party has claimed that “around 700” people were killed in protests following this week’s disputed elections, the AFP news agency is reporting.
 
“As we speak, the number of deaths in [Dar-es-Salaam] is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza,” Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka told AFP, referring to a city in northern Tanzania.  “If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths.”
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Chadema said its members had toured hospitals across the country to reach the figure.  A security source had provided AFP with "a similar toll," it stated.
 
Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify the number of deaths from this week’s violence.
 
The opposition’s estimated toll contrasted with that of the United Nations.  UN human rights spokesperson Seif Magango told reporters in Geneva that "credible sources" had indicated at least 10 deaths at the hands of security forces thus far in a Friday briefing.
 
“We call on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal weapons, against protesters, and to make every effort to de-escalate tensions,” Magango said in the same briefing.

 
Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday in the commercial capital of Dar-es-Salaam, a city of more than seven million people, after disputed and chaotic elections that saw the two main opposition parties barred from participating.
 
Several vehicles, a petrol station and police stations were set ablaze by protesters infuriated by the restricted election choices and harassment of opposition figures.
 
The most recent developments occurred on Friday, when hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police for the third day in a row, demanding that the national electoral body stop announcing results. The government shut down the internet and sent soldiers out into the streets.

 Tear gas and gunfire were fired at protesters who defied a curfew on Thursday in the Dar-es-Salaam neighborhoods of Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto, and Kiluvya.
 
State television was broadcasting the mainland results of Wednesday’s vote in which the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has governed Tanzania since independence in 1961, was seeking to extend its time in power.

 
Wednesday’s elections saw President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two biggest challengers excluded from the race, infuriating citizens and rights groups that have also decried an intensifying crackdown against opposition members, activists and journalists.

 
Hassan took office in 2021 when her predecessor, John Magufuli, died in office, and has faced rising criticism for what the United Nations has called a pattern of “escalating” attacks, disappearances and torture of critics.

 After longtime leaders in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast also attempted to cling to power, this is the latest election this month in Africa to elicit deep-seated resentment among citizens.

 After the Independent National Electoral Commission disqualified Tanzania's main opposition party, Chadema, in April for refusing to sign an electoral code of conduct, only minor opposition figures were eligible to compete against Hassan in the elections.

 The action was taken a few days after party leader Tundu Lissu was arrested at a rally where he called for electoral reforms and was accused of treason.

 Following an objection from the attorney general, the commission also disqualified Luhaga Mpina, the candidate for ACT-Wazalendo, the second largest opposition party.

 
Local and international watchdogs have sounded alarms over election-related violence and repression for months.

 
In June, a panel of nine UN experts called the government’s actions “unacceptable” and said they had tallied more than 200 disappearances since 2019.

 
In addition, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated in September that it had documented at least ten recent instances of politically motivated assault, harassment, abduction, and torture as well as "extensive restrictions" on civil society organizations and the media.

 
Nomathamsanqa Masiko-Mpaka, HRW’s South Africa researcher, warned at the time that Tanzania’s October elections were at “great risk”.

 
“The authorities need to stop muzzling dissenting voices and the media and instead engage in meaningful reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections,” Masiko-Mpaka added.

 
The electoral commission in Zanzibar said on Thursday that the incumbent, President Hussein Mwinyi, had won 78.8 percent of the votes.

 
The opposition announced that it would reveal its next steps and claimed that Zanzibar's results contained "massive fraud."

 
The protests have spread across the country, and the government has postponed the reopening of colleges and universities, which had been set for next Monday.

 
Jacob John Mkunda, the head of the army, said on Thursday that the military would work with other security agencies to control the situation and condemned the violence.