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DW (File photo) / Election campaign by the MDM in the 2014 elections
The Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) in Quelimane, central Mozambique, has reported that members were attacked on Women’s Day for carrying an MDM flag. “Do you have to hit us?” one of the participants at Women’s Day celebrations in Quelimane, Zambezia, exclaimed.
Supporters of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) celebrated the occasion together, but a Rapid Intervention Force (FIR) unit demanding the removal of an MDM flag attacked participants when their request went unheeded, Listano Evaristo, MDM delegate in Quelimane said. Two people were injured.
“We greatly regret the behaviour of the FIR, beating the ladies who were there to celebrate the 7th of April,” Evaristo told DW Africa on Monday. “The MDM flag was ripped and some members of the party were beaten. A young man’s arm was injured and a lady’s foot also.”
MDM fears renewed violence in the future
“Can you not keep the order here?” the mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo, asked police when he saw that members of his party were being beaten by security forces. Police spokesman Miguel Caetano, when questioned by DW, said he could not comment because it exceeded his competence.
Meanwhile, the MDM in Quelimane are approaching the local elections scheduled for October 10, 2018 with concern. Evaristo fears a repeat of the aggression opposition members faced in the 2013 elections.
“We are unsure,” says Evaristo. “Will the FIR hit people at polling places next year? That worries us as a political party.”
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