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Scuffles in Tanzania voting
By Beatrice Debut and Issa Maalim in Zanzibar
30oct05

SPORADIC violence erupted at polling stations on Tanzania's volatile Zanzibar archipelago today in hotly contested elections amid tight security, fears of unrest and allegations of fraud.

Scores of riot police- some of the 35,000 security forces deployed to the semi-autonomous islands for the ballot - patrolled the streets but appeared little concerned with clashes between supporters of rival parties.

"There is no need to shout," one officer bellowed over a loudspeaker in Stone Town, the old city and cultural heart of Zanzibar, where clashes took place outside at least two polling stations.

"Stay in the queue, don't bother anyone," he said as opposition supporters beat allegedly bogus voters they said had been brought in by the ruling party, which is facing a stiff challenge in the polls.

In the popular waterfront area of Forodhani, CUF voters hurling stones and wielding sticks attacked dozens of would-be CCM electors in three different groups, saying they had been brought in from outside the district.

Some of those attacked confirmed they did not reside in Forodhani, which is a bastion of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), but had been brought by force to the district by leaders of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM).

The same situation was reported at another CUF stronghold, Malindi, where voters verbally attacked women they said had come from outside the district.

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