Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, is facing a crackdown from the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan as police arrested key leaders ahead of a planned protest against alleged killings and abductions of opposition leaders and government critics.
Chadema’s Chairman, Freeman Mbowe, and Deputy Chairman, Tundu Lissu, were among 14 people detained in Dar-es-Salaam on Monday for defying a ban on protests.
Police had blockaded the homes of the leaders before their arrests, and riot police with water cannons were deployed across the city. Lissu, a survivor of a 2016 assassination attempt, reported on social media that officers were outside his house before his detention.
He was later apprehended and whisked away.
Chadema accuses the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of reverting to repressive tactics similar to those of her predecessor, John Magufuli.
Despite earlier hopes of democratic reforms under her, the party claims security forces are responsible for the recent disappearances of members and the killing of a senior official.
Rights groups and Western governments, including the U.S., have condemned the arrests as “anti-democratic”.
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