Two days of demonstrations, shootings, detentions, and an internet shutdown
Two days of demonstrations in Maputo, Matola, Boane, Chimoio, Nampula, Nacala and elsewhere have been marked by about 10 people killed by the police, dozens of injuries, and about 500 detentions. Three offices of the ruling Frelimo Party were set on fire, several shops were looted and vehicles burnt. As usual, the police do not mention any deaths.
Thursday 24 October began calmly throughout the country, but this changed after the announcement of the election results. Thousands of citizens, mostly young people, poured onto the streets to oppose the election results which claimed that Frelimo won 70% of the votes, a gigantic fraud not seen on this scale before. Barricades were erected and piles of tyres were set on fire at various points along the main roads of the cities and towns.
In Maputo City, the movements of demonstrators began in mid afternoon as soon as the reading of the results began.
The road from Maputo to Matola and then to South Africa, National Highway 4, was cut in several places, including by violent demonstrations at the Ressano Garcia border. A policeman shot one of his colleagues when he was trying to disperse the demonstrators.
Thursday night was marked by the vandalising of shops and the looting of property in some neighbourhoods. The Police took advantage of the situation to pillage a shop belonging to Chinese citizens in the area of Laulane, better known as the Police neighbourhood.
In Matola, a bottle store belonging to a Rwandan citizen, Alex Bottle Store, in the area of the first roundabout on the Maputo Ring Road was looted.
In Boane, in addition to launching tear gas into homes, the police shot dead one young man. A second man who was shot may have survived, but the information is contradictory.
Maputo Central Hospital said that 18 injured people entered the hospital. Four were hospitalised and five are under observation. One woman is in a serious condition after she was shot by the police. In Maputo, at least three citizens died.
In Gaza, about 20 people were detained, and three were injured.
In Inhambane, there were disturbances in the locality of Maimelane, in Inhassoro. The police invaded homes, launched tear gas and opened fire with live ammunition.
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Four dead in Manica
In Manica, there were four deaths, but the health services only confirm one. In Manica provinceial police reacted violently, and the result was 44 injuries, including 10 injured police agents. 14 people are hospitalized, and all are out of danger. Two citizens who were shot are in a serious condition in Manica Provincial Hospital. There were four deaths, . At least two of those who died were shot in the Chimoio neighbourhoods of 1st May and Nhaurir. In Chimoio Manica, at least two shops were looted. In Gondola, Manica, a young man was shot dead by the police on 24 October.
Three Frelimo Party offices were set on fire, in Chimoio, Gondola and Inchope.
The car and house of a policeman were reduced to ashes because he had supposedly shot a child three times in the genitals, in the area of the Manuel Nunes building, in Nhamaonha neighbourhood of Chimoio. According to local sources, the house now burnt down belongs to the policeman’s father, who is also a police agent in Manica.
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Further north
In Moatize, Tete, shots continued until early this morning.
In Zambézia, Gilé district woke up in the midst of disturbances, with the police firing rubber bullets, live ammunition and tear gas. The shots began when the demonstrators went to the District Police Command and the cells, intending to release those who had been detained for rejecting the election results published by the CNE.
In the north, the epicentres were the cities of Nampula and Nacala. In Nampula the police shot dead one demonstrator and injured a further three; 26 people were detained in Nampula and eight in Nacala.
In Cabo Delgado, the centre of the demonstrations was this morning in Namuno. The police were shooting, while the demonstrators were burning tyres.
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Police say they detained 371 but killed no one
citizens died from police bullets throughout the country.
Officially, the police do not say that the injuries result from police bullets. The number of injuries is much larger than that presented by the police spokesperson, Orlando Mudumane.
These are the official police figures:
Detained: 371
Injuries: 20
Deaths: 0
Cases of disorder: 19
Break-ins and looting: 17
Vandalising of public and private institution: 11
Vehicles set on fire: 2
Policemen injured: 8
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Criminal proceedings opened: 44
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Government orders first-ever internet shutdown
MISA-Mozambique says there was a deliberate limitation on internet use throughout the country on Friday, to prevent the circulation of videos on social media. This is the first ever restriction on the internet in Mozambique. The internet shutdown began on the late morning of Friday, 25 October, and the connection was only re-established on Saturday, at about 08.00 this morning.
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Police beat and detain community radio journalist
Agents of the Mozambican police (PRM), in Gilé district in Zambézia, assaulted and beat a journalist of the Monte Gilé community radio, on Friday morning.
At issue, according to the publication “Diário Eleitoral”, is that the radio had covered the demonstration and police shooting in the town. The journalist was covering the detention of 10 youths, who were protesting against the results of the elections announced on Thursday, when he was intercepted by the police. He was attacked and thrown into a police vehicle. During the journey he was tortured. He was trampled on and beaten, and contracted injuries. Police are firing live ammunition and launching tear gas throughout the town
