Tanzania arrests top opposition leader, blocks protest
Despite an official ban, the opposition Chadema party had vowed to go ahead with the rally over the alleged kidnapping and killing of its members by security forces.
Freeman Mbowe and Tundu Lissu lead Tanzania's political opposition in a protest in Dar es Salaam last January demanding constitutional changes to limit presidential powers and reform electoral commission ahead of next year's general election. / Photo: Reuters
Police has arrested one of Tanzania's most high-profile opposition figures Tundu Lissu on Monday, his party said, as they moved to block a mass protest in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
The party accuses the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of returning the country to the repressive tactics of her predecessor, John Magufuli.
She took over in March 2021 following Magufuli's sudden death and appeared to signal a more open democracy, reversing restrictions on opposition rallies and the media.
But Chadema accuses the security forces of being behind the disappearance of several members and the killing of Ali Mohamed Kibao, of its national secretariat, who was found dead earlier this month.
Arrested countless times
The party has said Lissu had been arrested early on Monday and police had also blocked access to the home of party chairman Freeman Mbowe.
Lissu, an opposition stalwart, has been arrested countless times and was shot in an assassination attempt in 2017.
He returned to Tanzania last year after Hassan lifted the ban on opposition rallies.
But he was arrested again in August, along with dozens of Chadema members, when the party tried to hold a youth day rally.
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