After twenty-four hours of violent clashes, the capital of Mozambique returned to normal. Students marched peacefully through the streets with signs supporting Venâncio Mondlane.
Twenty-four hours after violent clashes that left a trail of destruction in several streets of the Mozambican capital, Maputo returned to normal, without mobile internet, but with small groups marching peacefully under the watchful eye of the Mozambican police.
On Joaquim Chissano Avenue, the epicenter of the clashes between the Mozambican police and the supporters of the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is challenging the electoral results of October 9, a group of children is already playing soccer on the asphalt that still shows traces of the clashes.
The clouds of smoke that “painted” Thursday afternoon on the outskirts of Maputo have disappeared, but the atmosphere remains tense, especially inside the neighborhoods, with young people sitting, but attentive to the movements of passing vehicles. .
In almost all the avenues there are stones and traces of burned tires, a portrait of the violence that marked Thursday night, the day in which the National Electoral Commission of Mozambique (CNE) announced the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Liberation Front from Mozambique. (Frelimo), in power, in the elections for President of the Republic with 70.67% of the votes.
“We are surprised by this result because we know who we voted for and we know who won. That’s why we are back on the streets,” student Agapito António, 24, a supporter of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, told Lusa.
Agapito António is part of a group of a few dozen students from the Eduardo Mondlane University, the oldest higher education institution, who decided to return to the streets this Friday to challenge the electoral results, although with fear of the police forces, who are strategically distributed. around the city, with some armored vehicles, especially on the outskirts.
“Yes, there are people who ended up injured as a result of the clashes [de quinta-feira]But this is not a motivation not to march because we know that there will be more oppression in five years if we accept this electoral violence,” declared Ismael Pinto, another student.
Although without mobile internet, interrupted since early afternoon by the three mobile telephone operators without official explanation, the young students marched for just over a kilometer, with signs repudiating the electoral results announced on Thursday and singing hymns of support to Venâncio Mondlane.
[Já saiu o quarto episódio de “A Grande Provocadora”, o novo podcast Plus do Observador que conta a história de Vera Lagoa, a mulher que afrontou Salazar, desafiou os militares de Abril e ridicularizou os que se achavam donos do país. Pode ouvir aqui, no Observador, e também na Apple Podcasts, no Spotify e no Youtube. E pode ouvir aqui o primeiro episódio, aqui o segundo e aqui o terceiro.]
The students walked through some streets of Maputo, escorted by a small group of police, to the square of the Mozambican Women’s Organization (OMM), a few meters from the place where Elvino Dias, Mondlane’s lawyer, and Paulo Guambe, representative of the Podemos party, which supports Mondlane, were murdered a week ago, prompting the presidential candidate, who had already called a strike, to call people to the streets.
“This is a civil right. [marchar]We are not here to destroy anything. We are students and that is our position,” Fernando Bernardo, another student, told Lusa.
Mondlane, supported by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique ( Podemos, extra-parliamentary), came in second place, with 20.32%, with a total of 1,412,517 votes.
In third place in the presidential elections was Ossufo Momade, president of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), until now the largest opposition party, with 5.81%, followed by Lutero Simango, president of the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM). , with 3.21%.
The announcement of the results by the CNE occurred on the first of two days of general strike and demonstrations throughout the country called by Mondlane against this year’s electoral process, which is marked by clashes between protesters and police on the main avenues. of the capital. Mozambican.
More than 300 people were arrested throughout the country and, in Nampula, at least one person lost their life, according to data provided by the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM).
Source: Observadora
