DAR ES SALAAM- Police in Tanzania said that it has arrested leaders of the Party for Democracy and Progress (Chadema) and hundreds of its supporters, a senior party official said on Monday.
Deputy Chairman and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu was held on Sunday and party leader Freeman Mbowe on Monday at the airport in Mbeya, Chadema’s deputy secretary-general Benson Kigaila said.
A youth event hosted by the party with hundreds of visitors was to begin on Monday in the south-western city of Mbeya.
The police had banned the event, fearing chaos and a disturbance of public peace, and took hundreds into custody.
Speaking to journalists, Kigaila demanded the immediate release of the party leadership and its supporters.
Lissu returned to Tanzania in 2023 after several years of exile. Shortly before, President Samia Suluhu Hassan had announced an end to the ban on political demonstrations.(dpa/NAN)
