Authorities in Tanzania blocked access to the homes of two opposition leaders in Dar es Salaam on Monday, according to their party, CHADEMA.
Police had surrounded the residences of party chairman Freeman Mbowe and deputy Tundu Lissu ahead of a planned protest against alleged abductions and killings of opposition members. Authorities had declared the protest illegal.
While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has improved the nation’s human rights record since taking office in 2021, police abuses, particularly against government critics, have persisted and reportedly intensified ahead of local elections in December and the national election in 2025.
Recently, a senior CHADEMA official was kidnapped from a bus, and his body was later found on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, showing signs of torture and acid burns on his face.
Mbowe, Lissu, and hundreds of their supporters were briefly detained by police in August to block them from attending a banned party conference in the country’s southwest.
“From last night until this morning, September 23, 2024, police have blocked all roads leading to the party chairman’s home,” CHADEMA said on X.
Lissu, who survived a 2016 assassination attempt where he was shot 16 times, reported that three police vehicles with riot officers were stationed outside his residence.
“They’ve told me I’m to be taken to the Regional Crimes Officer,” he wrote on X. “I’m preparing to go.”
During the weekend, Dar es Salaam’s police chief, Jumanne Muliro, warned that Monday’s protest would disrupt public order, and vowed legal action to prevent it.
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