Africa-Press – Tanzania. POLICE yesterday declared the planned December 9 demonstrations illegal, warning that they will not permit any gathering whose organisers harbour malicious intentions, which aim at disrupting peace and undermining the country’s stability.
Speaking in Dodoma yesterday, Police Spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) David Misime warned that a wave of online mobilisation linked to the so-called indefinite peace ful demonstrations pose a serious threat to national peace, stability and public safety and that the police will not allow such incidents to happen.
He said the individuals behind the mobilisation who mostly use mobile numbers traced from foreign countries are issuing detailed instructions meant to destabilise essential services, including burning and damaging communication towers to disrupt participate in the so-called protests.
Moreover, DCP Misime said Police has revealed that there are coordinated instructions telling those trained to use firearms to be ready on that day.
“We have also seen messages directing people to disrupt the country by shutting down businesses, blocking roads, destroying communication towers and paralysing essential services,” he said.
According to him, such incitement constitutes a serious criminal offence and risks undermining the country’s economy, social order and safety of citizens.
The Police Spokesperson added that the investigation has revealed that some people say they will not accept a repeat of the losses they suffered on October 29, 2025 and in the days that followed, claiming that they are prepared to protect their lives, families and properties to ensure no one prevents them from continuing with their daily activities on December 9, 2025.
DCP Misime said the Police Force and Auxiliary Services Act, which provides guidelines and conditions for holding, gathering, forming, or conducting assemblies or demonstrations and based on the criminal tactics that organisers have been found mobilising to use starting from December 9, 2025, the demonstrations being described as “peaceful and indefinite” do not meet the legal requirements to be permitted.
He added that the demonstrations have been announced to take place nationwide, yet the individuals mobilising them have no identifiable physical address, apart from numerous phone numbers traced to foreign countries and some within Tanzania, as well as online accounts operated from inside and outside the country by the very people promoting the protests.
“Since no letter has been submitted to, or received by, any District Police Commander’s Office in the country providing official notice about these demonstrations up to today, the Police Force therefore prohibits the so-called “peaceful and indefinite” demonstrations from taking place,” he said.
