Tanzania’s October 29 general election turned nasty after protests erupted in different parts of the country, resulting in the deaths of a police officer and a civilian.
The two were confirmed later Wednesday by Amnesty International as it sounded an alarm over increasing unrest.
“Sound of a member of the public and a policeman being butchered in the course of yesterday’s election day violence in Tanzania is horrific,” Regional Director Tigere Chagutah for Amnesty International’s Regional Office for East and Southern Africa said.
He urged Tanzanian authorities to exercise restraint, continuing that the crisis would continue to get out of hand if there was the use of excessive force against protesters.
Protests broke out when the voters were voting, with angry citizens decrying the government for subverting democracy after two major opposition contenders Chadema’s Tundu Lissu and ACT-Wazalendo’s Luhaga Mpina were disqualified from contesting in the presidential election.
Web videos uploaded showed the images of chaos in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Tunduma, Tanga, and Mwanza, where demonstrators had street clashes with police. In others, demonstrators threw barricades on roads, fired them, and burned ballot boxes, while police employed brutal force to drive demonstrators off the streets.
One of these viral web videos also showed a view of a police man attacked by an angry crowd.
After the unrest, the Regional Commissioner of Dar es Salaam, Alfred Chalamila, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and warned citizens against any attempt to sabotage the electoral process.
In spite of the ban, however, there were isolated reports of unrest at night as eyewitnesses reported burning polling stations and sporadic clashes between youths and security forces.
Coupled with the anxiety, online monitor NetBlocks confirmed a nationwide blackout that disrupted major platforms and websites accessibility.
Three dominant service providers reportedly severed connectivity, which created widespread concern regarding transparency and communication throughout the election.
As Tanzania waits for official results of its election, tension is still rampant that the violence can deepen political divisions and decrease public trust in the country’s democratic process.