Africa-Press – Mozambique. Late Friday afternoon, Mozambican police used tear gas and gunfire to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had cut off Lusaka Accords Avenue in the centre of Maputo in protest against the electoral process.
At around 5:30 p.m. local time (two hours less in Lisbon), the central avenue had been cut off by demonstrators since 8 a.m., so a strong police force, with members of the Rapid Intervention Unit and the canine brigade, momentarily dispersed the demonstrators, who were occupying the road with burning tyres, stones, and containers.
At the time of the police charge, the demonstrators were seated, occupying part of the final stretch of the avenue, which gives access to Maputo’s international airport and hypermarkets.
Several minutes of gunfire and tear gas followed in the area, with the demonstrators fleeing into the surrounding neighbourhoods.
A polícia esta tarde disparou gás lacrimogéneo contra manifestantes nas zonas da praça de touros e baixa, cidade #Maputo. A situação provocou tumultos e neste momento a Avenida Acordos de Lusaka está intransitável, com barricadas e queima de Pneus no meio da estrada. #Moçambique pic.twitter.com/PpnYoTuFYC
— Alexandre Nhampossa (@AllexandreMZ) December 6, 2024
The Decide Electoral Platform, a Mozambican non-governmental organisation (NGO) that monitors electoral processes, announced today that at least 90 people have died in post-election demonstrations in the country since 21 October, as well as 294 people shot and 3,496 detained.
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called for a new phase of electoral protest lasting a week, from 4 to 11 December ,in “all the neighbourhoods” of Mozambique. Traffic was paralysed from 08:00 to 16:00 local time.
“All the neighbourhoods are in strong activity,” said Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the results announced from the general elections on 9 October, in a statement on his official Facebook account.
As was the case in the previous phase of protest, from 27 to 29 November, the presidential candidate called for vehicles to stop driving from 08:00 to 15:30, followed by 30 minutes of singing the anthems of Mozambique and Africa in the streets. This has happened over the last three days in several central arteries, particularly in Maputo.
“We’re going to demonstrate non-stop, without rest. It’s going to be a full seven days (…). All vehicles, everything that moves, will be at a standstill,” he insisted, asking motorists to stick protest posters on vehicles travelling until 08:00 and after 16:00.
The announcement by Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) on 24 October of the results of the 9 October elections, in which it awarded victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the election for President of the Republic, with 70.67% of the votes, triggered popular protests, called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and which have degenerated into violent clashes with the police.
According to the CNE, Mondlane came second with 20.32%, but the latter does not recognise the results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
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