How Tanzania police crushed election protests with lethal force

BBC: A crowd runs in panic along a dusty street. Shots ring out. A woman wearing a purple jacket carrying a stick falls to the ground.

Another woman can be heard pleading, “Mama, mama, stand,” as she tries to lift her. Blood is spreading around her stomach as another stain appears on her back.

This verified footage, filmed in Tanzania’s city of Arusha, is just one of many graphic scenes to have emerged showing the violent actions of police as they attempted to crush widespread protests last month during the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

The protests started in the city of Dar es Salaam on 29 October and spread across the country over the following days. The demonstrations had largely been organised by young people left angry at what they see as a political system dominated by one party since Tanzania gained independence in the 1960s.

Several opposition leaders were arrested and others banned from standing during the elections while a number of opposition activists were detained. Incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan ultimately secured victory after the electoral commission declared she received 98% of the vote.

Since then the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said it had reports indicating that hundreds of people were killed during the protests, with many more injured or detained. A diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

President Samia has called for an official investigation into the unrest and asked prosecutors to “show leniency” towards those arrested.

Footage of the protests was suppressed for almost a week when the government imposed a near-total internet blackout and threatened to jail anyone caught sharing any videos from the protests, saying it could cause unrest.

Only once the block was lifted on 4 November did dozens of videos begin to emerge online showing violent scenes: uniformed officers appearing to fire at crowds, bodies lying on the streets, with others piled up outside a hospital.

To understand what happened, BBC Verify has analysed, geolocated and confirmed footage, building a clearer picture of how police responded to the demonstrations.