Maputo, 5 Jun (AIM) – Agents of the Mozambican police force (PRM) on Tuesday night violently attacked journalists, kidnapped a reporter, and stole a TV camera belonging to the independent television station, STV.
The incident occurred outside the United Nations offices in Maputo, where about 300 former members of the defence and security forces have been demonstrating for the past week, demanding money which they claim has been owing to them for the past 20 years. They say they are each owed five million meticais (about 78,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate).
The protestors told STV reporters that they have tried to speak to members of the government, up to and including President Filipe Nyusi, about their claims, but so far without success.
As the STV team was doing its job, members of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican equivalent of the riot police) attacked the demonstrators, driving them into the UN compound.
The Maputo City police spokesperson, Leonel Muchina, was giving an exclusive interview to STV, when four men in plain clothes attacked the TV team and seized their camera.
Asked what had happened to the camera, Muchina claimed that persons unknown had stolen it, in order to cast doubt on the work of the police.
This story is absurd. STV counted more than 50 police agents in the area of the UN offices, with 15 police vehicles. Yet they all allowed unidentified people, using a vehicle without number plates, to seize the STV equipment, and not a single police officer lifted finger to stop them.
Even worse, a 24 year old journalist and human rights activist, Sheila Wilson, was abducted by police agents, an act of violence that was captured on film.
Neither Sheila Wilson, nor the STV crew had committed any crime. They had merely covered incidents of public interest taking place in a public place. The Mozambican constitution and press law fully protect this journalistic activity.
By mid-morning on Wednesday, the whereabouts of Sheila Wilson were still unknown.
(AIM)
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