Maputo — The chairperson of Mozambique's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Alacir Macassair, claims that the security forces adopted excessive actions against protesters by firing tear gas indiscriminately and using real bullets during demonstrations called by the presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane in order to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results of the general elections held on 9 October.
According to Macassair, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, in Maputo, excesses and human rights violations were committed by all sides, including demonstrators and police officers.
"We have had our rights violated, our constitutionally enshrined rights, the first of which is the limitation of the exercise of demonstration. In Mozambique they have been marked by acts that tarnish the exercise, such as the deaths of citizens, demonstrators and non-demonstrators, even police officers', he said.
He said that, during the demonstrations, public and private infrastructures were vandalized, including police stations, and citizens who were exercising their right to demonstrate were arrested.
excesses and human rights violations were committed by all sides
"The use of real bullets has caused some deaths against unarmed citizens', he said. Firearms "must be used in a proportional way depending on the circumstances, and there are circumstances that did not justify it".
According to the CNDH, around 70 people were shot dead by police during demonstrations.
"We've been monitoring the provinces of Maputo, Nampula, Zambézia, Nampula, and Niassa, always with a view to checking and gauging how the populations of these other places also see this process. We know that in reality these demonstrations end up going from peaceful to violent', he said.
In order to avoid further fatalities, the CNDH calls on the security forces to respect "the provisions of article 51 of the Mozambican Constitution, which enshrines the right to freedom of demonstration and assembly, and the proportional and circumstantial use of force.'
"As the guarantor of legality, given the current situation and the constant human rights violations, we call on the General Attorney's Office (PGR) to swiftly investigate and clarify the incidents resulting from the demonstrations, with a view to holding the presumed material and moral perpetrators responsible', he said.
