The protesters were trying to march peacefully towards the statue of Eduardo Mondlane, in the center of Maputo, when the police ended up firing several rounds of tear gas to disperse them.
This Monday, the Mozambican police stopped a demonstration of a few dozen people in the center of Maputo in protest against the announced results of the general elections of October 9, launching tear gas to disperse it.
The march had been called by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique ( Podemos ), which supports the presidential candidacy of Venâncio Mondlane, and after a few hundred meters, on Mao Tse-Tung Avenue, police elements tried to evict the protesters , who were trying to reach the statue of Eduardo Mondlane, on the avenue of the same name.
With the protesters, without the visible presence of any Podemos leader, maintain the intention to march, peacefully, holding small signs contesting the results., The police ended up firing several rounds of tear gas to dispersearound 10:50 local time (8:50 a.m. in Lisbon).
With surrounding residents throwing stones and other objects at the place, in protest of the police action, the group ended up separating, but shortly after, on Eduardo Mondlane Avenue, some of these people, who had gathered at the place, returned. disperse with new releases of tear gas.
So far, at least 11 people have been injured during clashes between protesters and police that occurred in the first three days of the strike called by Mondlane, the Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), the country’s largest unit, announced this Monday.
“Since the 31st [de outubro] what was the first day of riots until sunday [3 de novembro] 11 traumatized patients were admitted,” said Dino Lopes, director of the HCM Adult Emergency Service, during a press conference.
The person in charge said that, of the 11 patients who were admitted to the HCM, nine remain hospitalized and two have already been discharged from the hospital.
Dino Lopes declared that the Central Hospital has been working with “a contingency scale” since the call for the first strike made by Venâncio Mondlane and due to the demonstrations, with the aim of guaranteeing care to all users who come to that hospital unit.
However, he once again warned of the risk of stoning for the institution’s ambulances every time they go to places where there are riots to help the injured.
“We work in a conditional way, because our colleagues also fear riots in the peripheral neighborhoods and, sometimes, they cannot get there. This means we have to work 24 hours a day and it is a burden on our hard-working colleagues,” the HCM spokesperson added.
Venâncio Mondlane called for a general strike and demonstrations for a week in Mozambiquestarting October 31, and marches in Maputo on November 7.
The presidential candidate designated this as the third stage of challenging the results of the general elections of October 9, after the protests held on October 21, 24 and 25, which caused clashes with the police, leaving at least 10 dead . Dozens injured and 500 detained, according to the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), a non-governmental organization in Mozambique that monitors electoral processes.
The CIP and the CDD (Center for Democracy and Human Rights) estimate that in the clashes of recent days, at least nine people died in the provinces of Nampula and Zambézia in clashes with the police in the context of the post-election protests.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced on October 24 the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, a party in power since 1975), in the elections for President of the Republic on October 9 , with 70 votes, 67% of the votes.
Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the extra-parliamentary party Podemos, came in second place, with 20.32%, but stated that he does not recognize these results, which have yet to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
Source: Observadora
