🔗 Share this article

Per the primary rival faction, approximately 700 people have supposedly died during 72 hours of poll-related protests in the East African nation.

Violence Erupts on Polling Day

Unrest commenced on Wednesday over allegations that demonstrators called the stifling of the opposition after the removal of key candidates from the presidential ballot.

Casualty Estimates Stated

A rival official claimed that numerous of people had been lost their lives since the unrest began.

"At present, the number of deaths in Dar es Salaam is nearly 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Including estimates from other places throughout the country, the overall count is about 700," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson noted that the toll could be much higher because deaths might be taking place during a night-time lockdown that was imposed from Wednesday.

Additional Estimates

• An official source supposedly claimed there had been information of exceeding 500 fatalities, "maybe 700-800 in the entire nation."
• Amnesty International said it had gathered data that a minimum of 100 individuals had been slain.
• The opposition asserted their numbers had been gathered by a network of activists visiting clinics and medical centers and "tallying dead bodies."

Calls for Intervention

The opposition urged the government to "halt harming our demonstrators" and called for a interim government to pave the way for free and fair elections.

"Stop violence. Uphold the voice of the people which is democratic rights," the official declared.

Government Reaction

Officials responded by enforcing a curfew. Online restrictions were also reported, with global observers indicating it was across the nation.

The following day, the military leader condemned the violence and called the protesters "criminals". He said law enforcement would attempt to contain the unrest.

International Concern

The UN human rights office stated it was "alarmed" by the fatalities and harm in the protests, adding it had obtained accounts that a minimum of 10 civilians had been killed by authorities.

The organization reported it had obtained trustworthy information of fatalities in the port city, in Shinyanga and an eastern area, with officials discharging live ammunition and chemical irritants to disperse protesters.

Legal Opinion

An human rights attorney remarked it was "unacceptable" for law enforcement to resort to arms, noting that the country's leader "must refrain from using the law enforcement against the civilians."

"The president should pay attention to the citizens. The feeling of the nation is that there was no fair vote … We cannot elect only one option," the advocate said.