Zimbabwe’s capital Harare and its second city Bulawayo were quiet on Monday despite calls for protests against the southern African nation’s leader.

The police stepped up security in the city centers while assuring the public in a statement on X that people should “feel free to embark on their day-to-day activities.”

The protests were called by opponents of President Emmerson Mnangagwa over suspicions that he is planning to extend his rule after his current term ends in 2028, despite repeated assurances that this isn’t the case.

Anger has also been fermented by years of economic mismanagement and sky-high inflation that has collapsed a series of domestic currencies and driven most people to conduct business in dollars.

Mnangawa’s supporters passed a resolution at a ruling party conference in October that he stay in power.

“Mnangagwa insists he is a constitutionalist and will step down in 2028. But few believe him because he has done nothing to cancel,” the resolution, Peter Fabricius, a consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, wrote in a March 28 note.

First Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who with Mnangagwa led a military takeover to oust long-time ruler Robert Mugabe in November 2017, is seen as the next in line to become president. That’s nurtured speculation he quietly supports the protest call. The government has denied a rift exists between the two men.