Bar Association calls on demonstrators to avoid violence and refrain from looting

Maputo, 19 Nov (AIM) – The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has called on demonstrators to refrain from looting, violence and revenge in order to safeguard the rights enshrined in the constitution, taking into account that the escalating violence may force the enactment of restrictive measures to ensure public order, which would be totally counter-productive for the demonstrators.

The statement is aimed at those who are taking advantage for criminal purposes of the demonstrations called by the independent presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results of the elections held on 9 October.

At night, using the unrest as a cover, some people are setting up informal toll gates on the Maputo streets, and extorting money from passing motorists. Those who refuse to pay may find stones hurled through their car windows

These people, who infiltrate themselves into the demonstrations, also loot stores and destroy public and private infrastructures.

According to the Bar Association statement, this behavior is criminal and jeopardizes the right to demonstrate, as it conflicts with other rights enshrined in the constitution.

“We have always argued that peaceful demonstrations are the only weapon that citizens have to show their disappointment with politics and the difficulties they face on a daily basis, and that the state must create the conditions for the exercise of this right to take place in an environment of public safety and tranquillity”, says the OAM note.

The document says that neither failures in the distribution of wealth nor the difficulties of integrating young people can justify or distort “the essential values of our society, which is respect for one’s neighbour. Our right or freedom ends when it clashes with the right or freedom of another.”

“The violence we are witnessing clearly demonstrates that we are losing the capacity for dialogue in society, normalizing violence and hatred, and this type of action sounds an alarm to the instinct for security of ordinary people in society”, warned the OAM.

The lawyers believe that only the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of electoral law, can contribute to the credibility of the elections “in order to avoid the escalation of violence”.

The OAM thought it imperative that the Constitutional Council should take its decision on the election results as soon as possible in order to calm the situation down and bring about the longed-for social peace, without losing sight of the social problems that political leaders must prioritize in order to achieve a fairer society.

“Governance must be inclusive, not leaving out any fringe of our society, especially the most vulnerable”, reads the OAM note.
(AIM)
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