Manifestações violentas em Moçambique
Maputo, 19 Nov (AIM) – The Mozambican Police (PRM) claims that at least five people have died and 17 were injured during the “first moment” of “Phase four” of demonstrations called by the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results of the general elections held on 9 October.
According to Police spokesperson Orlando Mudumane, speaking on Monday to reporters, in Maputo, over the same period 24 stores were looted during “51 violent demonstrations.”
“The demonstrations also culminated in the vandalization of several state institutions, including two schools. There has also been vandalization in the country’s mining areas, where protesters have burned camps and work machines.
According to Mudumane, 136 people were detained and 46 criminal cases have already been opened and submitted to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
The figures presented by the Police differ from those announced by the “Decide” Electoral Platform, a prominent Mozambican NGO. According to the organization, “at least 25 people were shot dead by the Police and another 26 were injured in five days as part of the “phase four” demonstrations. There were also 135 arrests following the protests, most of them in the central province of Zambézia.
According to Mudumane, the Police also observed the burning of tyres on the public highway, the erection of barricades, and the opening of craters.
“These demonstrations are also characterized by the use of children and teenagers to commit acts of vandalism and looting of other people’s property and the making of homemade bombs that are then used to set off fires.
Mudumane claimed that at least seven vehicles were burned down and six homes and ten commercial establishments were vandalized.
In order to recover social tranquility, the spokesperson calls on demonstrators to avoid violence and refrain from acts of looting “because the consequences of illegal acts are unpleasant.”
(AIM)
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