The Inauguration Of The President Of Tanzania Colored By Protests And Blocking The Internet, Opposition: Hundreds Of People Died

Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as President of Tanzania on Monday, November 3. (X @SuluhuSamia)

JAKARTA - Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as President of Tanzania today, Monday, November 3 local time. The inauguration was amid a wave of demonstrations of rejection.

Citing AFP, state television broadcasting Hassan's inauguration said the public would not attend the event which took place at the State Building in the capital Dodoma. Previously, the presidential inauguration in Tanzania was held at the stadium.

At the State Building, local officials and foreign officials were reported to have gone to the field for the inauguration parade.

Hassan's inauguration amid a wave of protests called for a re-election of the 2025 Tanzania presidential election. The refusal also came from Samia rival Chadema, who was barred from running for the presidential election.

Protests have taken place since the country's general election commission said Hassan won the 2025 Tanzania presidential election with 98 percent of the votes.

In response to a wave of protests, police imposed a total quarantine in a number of cities in Tanzania, including in Dar es jurisprudence, last weekend.

An AFP reporter said police stopped almost everyone who was active, checked identity cards and bags, and allowed shops to only open in the afternoon.

While on Zanzibar Island, there were minimal protests. In the region, armed and masked people have been patrolling without a badge or identity since Hassan was announced to have won the presidential election.

The Tanzanian government has also completely turned off the internet in its country. With this policy, only a few verified information came out of the eastern African country.

A diplomatic source quoted the report as saying, since the protests rejected the results of Tanzania's pilpers, hundreds may even thousands of deaths were recorded in hospitals and health clinics across Tanzania.

Separately, Chadema added, opposition groups recorded "no less than 800" deaths from protests as of Saturday last week, but no number could be independently verified.

The Tanzanian government declined to comment on the loss of life from the protest that refused Hassan's election. However, the government actually considered the existence of "excessive forces" related to the refusal.

To this day, teaching and learning activities and public transportation operations in Tanzania have been suspended. A number of church services also did not take place last weekend.

Furthermore, diplomatic sources said there were reports that the government was blocking the internet from buying time while looking for evidence of violent videos experienced by the opposition and protesters since the wave of protests rolled around.