The president of Mozambique confirmed the investigations into police conduct during a tribute to Azagaia. Filipe Nyusi regrets what happened and reveals that the protests do not justify “indiscriminate violence”.
The Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, announced this Thursday investigations into the police action of the marches on Saturday and the identity of those who wanted to achieve “their intentions” with the tribute to the “rapper” Azagaia, lamenting the riots that occurred.
“We instructed the Ministry of the Interior to investigate the reasons that led the Police of the Republic of Mozambique to adopt a posture of physical confrontation with the young people and, likewise, to identify those who tried to take advantage of the individual virtue of the young people. ‘rapper’ Azagaia to achieve his purposes. We want to say that we are sorry for what happened and we will take the necessary measures to clarify it and prevent these situations from happening again.said Filipe Nyusi, speaking on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony at the Maputo Academy of Police Sciences.
Police use tear gas to disperse a march in Maputo honoring rapper Azagaia
According to Nyusi, the police intelligence services were in possession of information that showed that there were “foreign elements” and that they wanted to take advantage of the events to create disturbances and violence, but that does not justify “indiscriminate violence”.
“We positively value the work of collecting information [pela polícia] and we welcome the need to prevent public disorder in our country, however, we warn that the action of the police forces does not translate into indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians or young people”, he said.
“On this information, there are videos produced and disseminated by themselves inciting youth violence, which did not politicize the request for a demonstration, made with the knowledge of the local authorities,” said Nyusi, who added: “Although there are infiltrators within these youths, The job of the police should be to isolate this group of malicious and hold him accountable in an exemplary manner.”
Police say they used ‘proportional force’ in crackdown on Mozambique marches
Various entities and organizations condemned police violence, describing it as one of the most visible signs of the limitations on freedom of expression and demonstration in the country. In total, according to the police, 14 people were injured and another 36 were detained, although they are now free.
The Center for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organization, filed a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) against the Mozambican State “for acts of violation of human and fundamental rights by the police.” .
The organizers of the marches also announced the use of national and foreign authorities to blame what they describe as a disproportionate force exerted by that corporation.
Source: Observadora
