Tensions grow in Mozambique as police fire tear gas at protesters
Mozambican police fired tear gas at hundreds of opposition supporters on Thursday in the capital, Maputo, marking the largest protest yet against last month’s disputed election results.
Protesters clashed with security forces, who had deployed heavily along the main highway into Maputo, witnesses reported.
People streamed into the city on foot, while groups elsewhere burned tyres and blocked roads.
The police response with tear gas heightened concerns about escalating violence, as more than a dozen people have already died in the ongoing protests against the election outcome, RFI’s correspondent in Maputo reported.
“The police are using tear gas against the people, shooting anyway,” shouted one protester. Another cried: “In Cabo Delgado, there is a real war, and they’re throwing gas. If you want war, come with your hands. Let’s fight because this is war.”
Potential 'bloodbath'
Activist Quitéria Guirengane, a member of the Geracao 18 de Marco movement, urged the government to apologise to the people of Mozambique, calling for “reconciliation and the restoration of the truth” to prevent what she warned could become a “bloodbath”.
Guirengane argued that people were not taking to the streets merely due to opposition leader Venancio Mondlane’s call for protests, but rather because they had “awakened from the deep sleep of authoritarianism”.
However, Mondlane disputes the results, insisting that he won.
(with newswires)
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