Mozambique: Police detain young man for holding signs in Pemba, activists call for freedom of expression

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Mozambique: Police detain young man for holding signs in Pemba, activists call for freedom of expression

2:43 CAT | 22 May 2023

Photo: Twitter / @zito_ossumane

Mozambican police detained a young man for 20 hours in the city of Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado, for holding up protest signs on the street, a detention contested by activists and denounced on social media.

Milo Samuel Mariano was arrested on Friday at the first police station in Pemba and released on Saturday after activists mobilised and took a lawyer to the police station.

Milo Mariano left without giving a statement, led by the police to a vehicle in which he was taken home..

“I don’t want to be displaced anymore”, read one of the signs held up by Milo Samuel on one of the main streets of Pemba, an allusion to the circa million people who had to flee there and to other places because of armed attacks in the interior of the province.

Another poster read: “We want the district elections”, whose postponement is to be voted on in parliament on the initiative of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the majority party.

Abudo Gafuro, a social activist following the case, said that there were two other posters, in which the young man complained about the difficulty in finding a job, because he was always required to have some experience, and that to enjoy opportunity, you must first be a party member.

“They are trying to silence civil society,” Gafuro said of the police action, launching an appeal for “openness, freedom of expression and demonstration”.

Gafuro asked whether it was a crime to “demonstrate freely, obeying the rules and norms of the Constitution and Article 51”.

“There are some who are neither at ease nor comfortable with that,” he said.

The police in Pemba postponed clarification to an opportune moment, only declaring that Milo Mariano had not obeyed legal procedures surrounding public demonstrations.

This is one way in which the Mozambican police systematically prevent any public sign of protest, despite the tactic being repeatedly contested, most recently by Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) Beatriz Buchili, who a month ago in parliament said that “the right to demonstrate is constitutionally enshrined as a fundamental right” and “its exercise cannot be limited or conditioned”.

The PGR was referring to one of the most serious incidents of police repression in recent years, in which dozens of agents fired tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful and properly authorised marches in Maputo and other provincial capitals, held in memory of deceased rapper, Azagaia.

In Cabo Delgado, the fact of armed attacks in the province has also been used by the authorities to forbid demonstrations, but activists say that justification makes no sense.

“We cannot be generalising all the time, saying that Cabo Delgado is in trouble. Terrorists do not come to the public square to demonstrate,” Gafuro says.

“He is an activist,” Gafuro said, describing Milo Samuel.

Ali Caetano, another activist following the case, speaks of a closure of civic space, in which “there is no longer any space for people to talk”.

“This will clearly drive people away from democratic processes, ” he concluded.

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts next to gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

In addition to one million displaced people, the conflict has already caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

SOS #povonopoder #artigo51
Milo Mariano, um jovem activista dos direitos civis, foi detido e encontra-se sob custódia na 1ª Esquadra da cidade de Pemba. Sua detenção ocorreu após ele fazer uso de seus direitos constitucionais e expressar demandas legítimas em relação ao governo. pic.twitter.com/xdYdVe1m4Z

— Zito do Rosário Ossumane (@zito_ossumane) May 19, 2023

#CaboDelgado https://t.co/Z4smnUWmE1 pic.twitter.com/q4vrM826O0

— Cabo Delgado (@DelgadoCabo) May 19, 2023

Victória!!!

O activista Milo Mariano, que havia sido detido ontem, foi libertado hoje após intensas mobilizações e pressões da sociedade civil. A prisão gerou ampla indignação e preocupação. #milolivre #PNP #artigo51 #LiberdadeJa #geração18março #POVONOPODER pic.twitter.com/WS3WYa5a6j

— Zito do Rosário Ossumane (@zito_ossumane) May 20, 2023