In brief
Protests erupted in Tanzania following the recent elections, with police employing lethal force to suppress dissent. Eyewitness accounts and verified footage depict chaotic scenes with significant loss of life, raising urgent calls for investigations into human rights violations.
Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence and gunshot injuries.
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, illustrates the violent actions of police during widespread protests that followed the presidential and parliamentary elections last month.
The protests, which began in Dar es Salaam on October 29, were fueled by discontent among young citizens frustrated with decades of political dominance by a single party since Tanzania's independence in the 1960s.
Opposition leaders were arrested, and the electoral commission declared incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan victorious with an unprecedented 98% vote. The UN human rights office reported hundreds of deaths, with credible evidence suggesting at least 500 casualties.
Footage of violence was suppressed under a government-imposed internet blackout intended to prevent unrest, which lasted until November 4 when videos began emerging online showing police firing on protesters and scenes of carnage.
The BBC Verify team analyzed these videos, revealing instances of police employing live ammunition against demonstrators, particularly along Morogoro Road in Dar es Salaam, where multiple bodies were reported.
Eyewitness accounts show police firing on crowds in various urban centers, leading to chaos and further violence. Investigators confirmed the use of live rounds through audio forensic analysis of the footage.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for accountability and an inquiry into the violent suppression of protests, pressing the Tanzanian government to release all detained individuals related to the unrest.
