Tanzanians fear more police killings ahead of planned protests

DAR ES SALAAM – Some Tanzanians had hoped to protest today against ongoing repression, but fear of government threats and traumatic memories of mass killings during last October’s election mean unrest is unlikely.

Riot police, weapons drawn, are visible across the commercial capital Dar es Salaam after calls to protest today, on 7 July, usually a day that celebrates the creation of the African Union of Tanganyika, the party that led Tanzania to independence in 1964.

One officer in an armoured vehicle told AFP it was simply “routine exercises”, but the government recently banned all political gatherings, and has spent weeks trying to deter protesters by describing them as “criminals”.

“Any previous use of force to preserve peace was just a taste of what is to come,” warned Dar es Salaam’s regional commissioner Albert Chalamila last week.

That was a chilling reminder of the police violence during the last election in October, when protests broke out over the banning of opposition candidates and a spate of abductions and murders targeting dissidents.

Rights groups and the opposition say security forces killed thousands during the election unrest. The government says 518 people died, without saying who did the killing.