Maputo — Police physically attacked a crew from the independent Mozambican television station, STV, who were attempting to cover a disturbance on Sunday morning in the Maputo neighbourhood of Inhagoia.

According to STV, a crowd gathered in front of the local police post protesting against the police decision to release a man whom they believed was a rapist.

The girl allegedly raped was only seven years old, and members of the crowd claimed that this was not the first time that the alleged offender had sexually abused children. They believed that the man had bribed the police to release him.

The police objected to the presence of the STV journalists on the scene.

The crew says they were physically assaulted, and their equipment was confiscated by the head of the police post.

They were detained for an hour in the police post, and then bundled into a police vehicle as if they were criminals, and taken to the police precinct in Jardim neighbourhood.

They were released later in the day, and recovered their equipment. If the police hoped to suppress news of the Inhagoia demonstration, they were disappointed, and the footage appeared on the STV evening news on Sunday.