TWO Die in Inhambane Riot
Maputo, 8 Jan (AIM) – Two people were shot dead in clashes between the police and rioters on Saturday, in the southern province of Inhambane, according to a report on Radio Mozambique.
The riot broke out at Mapinhane, in Vilankulo district, when a crowd demanded that the police hand over a man suspected of involvement in kidnapping. Since the crowd clearly intended to lynch the suspect, the police refused to comply with its demand.
The police opened fire to disperse the crowd. Two of the protesters died in the clash, and four others were injured. Among the injured are a child, hit by a stray bullet, presumably fired by the police, and a police officer hit by an object thrown from within the crowd. They were treated for their injuries at the Vilankulo Rural Hospital.
The protestors threw up barricades along the stretch of the country’s main north-south highway (EN1) which runs through Mapinhane. According to the head of the Mapinhane administrative post, Luis Vuilankulo, by the evening the barricades had been removed and traffic was flowing normally along the road. Shops, which had closed during the rioting, re-opened.
(AIM)
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