Tanzania police release Lissu and others after protest standoff

Among those released were party chairman Freeman Mbowe, vice chairperson Tundu Lissu, and secretary general John Mnyika. They were arrested upon their arrival in the southern Tanzanian city for the event scheduled for Monday.
Commissioner (CP) Awadh Haji, head of the Tanzania police force's operations and training unit, announced at a late-night press conference in Mbeya that all CHADEMA members detained over the past two days had been freed and were being sent back to their homes.

"This includes the party leaders who travelled here from outside the region, most of them from Dar es Salaam. They have been granted police bail and are now in the process of being transported back under tight police escort," CP Haji said without mentioning their names outright.

Lissu, Mnyika, and CHADEMA central committee member Joseph Mbilinyi were arrested on Sunday shortly after arriving in Mbeya for the forum. They were joined in detention by Mbowe and the party’s youth wing (BAVICHA) chairman John Pambalu the following day after their apprehension at Mbeya's Songwe Airport as they arrived from Dar es Salaam.

This latest confrontation between the party and Tanzanian security forces occurred ahead of nationwide local government elections set for late October or early November. It followed an event held by the ruling CCM party's youth wing, VIJANA, to commemorate International Youth Day in Zanzibar on Saturday, August 10.

State authorities opted to suppress CHADEMA's assembly due to concerns that it could lead to widespread anti-government protests similar to the Gen Z youth movement in neighboring Kenya. Both the police and the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties issued formal bans on the Mbeya event, citing videos shared on social media by the party’s youth leaders that were deemed incendiary.

In an August 8 letter addressed to CHADEMA secretary general Mnyika, Assistant Registrar Sisty Nyahoza noted that the leaders had encouraged youths nationwide to attend the gathering “to show they are as serious as their Kenyan counterparts in carving a new destiny for the country and moving away from state control.”

"Such statements indicate a clear intention to incite people and create chaos under the umbrella of celebrating youth day, and as such are prohibited by Tanzania's laws governing political parties activities," Mr Nyahoza said.

CP Haji echoed these concerns in a public statement on Sunday, August 11, as reports emerged of police stopping dozens of buses carrying hundreds of youths at checkpoints across the country as they attempted to reach Mbeya.
By Monday night, CP Haji confirmed that a total of 520 CHADEMA members had been arrested and subjected to lengthy interrogations regarding the Youth Day event.
"Most of them were arrested on their way to Mbeya for refusing to heed police orders to turn back, and some who were already in Mbeya including the top party officials. All of them, except for those who failed to meet the bail conditions or had other criminal cases, have been escorted back to their home regions," he said.

CP Haji did not disclose the exact number of those released or who would remain in custody. He issued a strong warning that police would not hesitate to take further action against “anyone, regardless of status or prominence in opposition politics, who attempts to break national laws by copying events in other countries.”