Maputo, 25 Feb (AIM) – The General Commander of the Mozambican police force (PRM), Joaquim Sive, has promised to hold accountable those people who took advantage of protests to loot stores and destroy public and private infrastructures.
According to Sive, who was speaking on Monday during the presentation of Momade Catica as the new police commander in the southern province of Gaza, rioting is a crime.
Initially, the protests used as their excuse the results of last October’s general elections, widely regarded as fraudulent. But now the focus of the unrest, in many parts of the country, has moved away from the elections to the cost of living.
“The violent protests, looting and destruction of public and private property, under the pretext of rejecting the cost of living, are aimed at creating social destabilization”, said Sive.
The General Commander explained that the Police are working in order to investigate the groups responsible for “promoting rioting and disorder on public roads.”
He added that cooperation between the police and communities must be strengthened in order to re-establish public order, security and tranquility, with a view to allowing institutions to function normally.
The Gaza authorities have warned that many people are at risk of losing their jobs as a result of the recent rioting. On Monday, groups of rioters destroyed the offices of the country’s ruling Frelimo party in Morrumbene and Maxixe districts, in the southern province of Inhambane.
The demonstrations that were called by the former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane in order to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results of the elections held on 9 October started peacefully but then degenerated into rioting and looting.
In clashes between protesters and police, over 300 people were shot dead, and around 750 were seriously injured by gunshots, according to the “Decide” Electoral Platform, a Mozambican NGO that monitors elections.
(AIM)
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