About 700 people have been killed during three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party has said.
Protests erupted on election day on Wednesday over what demonstrators said was the stifling of the opposition after the exclusion of key candidates from the presidential ballot.
John Kitoka, a spokesperson for the Chadema opposition party, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that hundreds of people had been killed since then.
“As we speak, the figure for deaths in Dar [es Salaam] is around 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Added to figures from other places around the country, the overall figure is around 700,” he said.
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He added that the toll could be much higher because killings could be happening during a night-time curfew that was imposed from Wednesday.
A security source told AFP there had been reports of more than 500 dead, “maybe 700-800 in the whole country”.
Amnesty International said it had received information that at least 100 people had been killed.
Mr Kitoka said Chadema’s numbers had been gathered by a network of party members going to hospitals and health clinics and “counting dead bodies”.
He demanded that the government “stop killing our protesters” and called for a transitional government to pave the way for free and fair elections. “Stop police brutality. Respect the will of the people, which is electoral justice,” Mr Kitoka said.
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Tanzanians went to the polls on Wednesday in an election in which president Samia Suluhu Hassan was expected to strengthen her grip on the country amid rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of key opponents from the presidential contest.
In April, Tundu Lissu, the vice-chair of Chadema, was arrested and charged with treason and cybercrime offences. His party, which had led calls for a boycott of the election unless electoral systems were reformed, was later disqualified from participating.
Last month, Luhaga Mpina, the leader of ACT-Wazalendo, another opposition party, was also disqualified, meaning Ms Hassan will contest only lesser-known opponents from minor parties.
Government critics were also abducted and arrested in the run-up to the election.
Since Wednesday, huge crowds of protesters have attacked police and destroyed property belonging to businesses connected to the ruling party.
The demonstrations were focused mainly in the port city of Dar es Salaam but have since spread across the country.
The government reacted by imposing a curfew. Internet disruption was also reported, with the global monitor NetBlocks saying it was countrywide.
On Thursday, the army chief, Gen Jacob John Mkunda, condemned the violence and called the protesters “criminals”. He said security forces would try to contain the situation.
Demonstrators on Friday faced a heavy police and military presence.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it was “alarmed” by the deaths and injuries in the protests, noting it had received reports that at least 10 people had been killed by security forces.
The OHCHR said it had received credible reports of deaths in Dar es Salaam, in Shinyanga in the northwest and Morogoro in the east, with security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protesters.
An OHCHR spokesperson, Seif Magango, said the office had urged security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force and for protesters to demonstrate peacefully.
Tito Magoti, a human rights lawyer, said it was “unjustified” for security agencies to use force, adding that the country’s president “must refrain from deploying the police against the people”.
He said: “She must listen to the people. The mood of the country is that there was no election ... We cannot vote for one candidate.” – Guardian/AFP
