'Hundreds dead' in Tanzania post-election violence

NAIROBI:

Around 700 people have been killed in three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party said Friday, with protesters still on the streets in the midst of an internet blackout.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, whose government is accused of a campaign of repression, had sought to cement her position and silence critics in her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or barred from standing.

Wednesday's election descended into chaos as huge crowds took to the streets of Dar es Salaam and other cities, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an internet shutdown and curfew.

With foreign journalists largely banned from covering the election and a communications block entering its third day, information from the ground has been scarce.

But the main opposition party, Chadema, which was barred from the election, said protesters were marching on the city centre in Dar es Salaam on Friday, met by a heavy police and army presence.

"As we speak the figure for deaths in Dar (es Salaam) is around 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Added to figures from other places around the country, the overall figure is around 700," Chadema spokesman John Kitoka told AFP.

"The death toll could be much higher," he warned, saying killings could be happening during the nighttime curfew.

A security source told AFP they were hearing reports of more than 500 dead, "maybe 700-800 in the whole country", while Amnesty said it had received information of at least 100. Multiple hospitals and health clinics were too afraid to talk directly to AFP.