Tanzania poised for mother of all protests on December 9 amid election-related killings
By Steve Ireri, November 24, 2025Tanzania is bracing for major nationwide protests on December 9, 2025, as public outrage continues to grow over election-related killings and the disputed poll that handed President Samia Suluhu Hassan an overwhelming victory.
In a poster shared widely on Monday, November 24, 2025, Tanzanian Gen Z vowed to take to the streets on December 9, calling for justice, accountability and an end to what they described as state brutality.
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“PROTESTS TO DEMAND JUSTICE. We will carry placards with our demands and requests,” the poster said.
The poster stipulated that demonstrators would march peacefully while carrying placards outlining their demands, alongside photos of people killed during the post-election unrest.
It emphasised that the protests would remain orderly, urging participants not to destroy property.
“We will carry photos of our relatives who were killed. The protests will be peaceful and calm. We will not burn anything, and there will be no destruction. We will be calm, but we will not be WEAK. READ NUMBER 5 AGAIN,” the poster added.
The renewed calls for demonstrations come in the wake of escalating unrest that began shortly after the October 29 polls.
On November 1, 2025, Tanzania’s electoral commission declared President Samia Suluhu Hassan the victor with nearly 98% of the vote, triggering a fresh wave of anger and deepening a political crisis that has rapidly spread across major cities.
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Opposition leaders rejected the results immediately, accusing authorities of excluding the president’s two main challengers from the race and presiding over what they described as a heavily repressed election environment.
As tension rose, protests broke out in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Shinyanga and several other towns.
Witnesses reported chaotic scenes in which demonstrators tore down political banners, lit fires outside public offices, and clashed with security forces who responded with teargas, rubber bullets, and sporadic live fire.
Tanzanian opposition groups claimed that hundreds of civilians had been killed during the confrontations, an allegation the government strongly dismissed as exaggerated.
International scrutiny deepened on October 31, 2025, when the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a sharply worded statement expressing alarm over the situation.
The UN said it had received credible reports indicating that at least 10 people had been killed in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Shinyanga as security agencies attempted to quell demonstrations.
“We are alarmed by the deaths and injuries that have occurred in the ongoing election-related protests in Tanzania. Credible reports we have received indicate that at least 10 people were killed in Dar es Salaam, Shinyanga and Morogoro as the security forces used firearms and teargas to disperse protesters,” OHCHR noted.