Mozambique: Pemba police detained activist for over 20 hours ‘to protect him’ – Watch

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Mozambique: Pemba police detained activist for over 20 hours ‘to protect him’ – Watch

7:52 CAT | 24 May 2023

Screen grab: DW

Police in Pemba on Monday justified the detention of social activist Milo Samuel Mariano for more than 20 hours [from Friday to Saturday] on the grounds of ensuring his safety.

“He was on a busy avenue, he was on a public road and could have been attacked by anyone” who disagreed “with what he presented on his posters”, police spokesperson Eugénia Nhamussua told a press conference.

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

“He was not prohibited from demonstrating. Any citizen in the Republic of Mozambique has the right to demonstrate. However, we must observe the precepts indicated by the Constitution. Let’s make our requests (to the City Council),” she said.

The need for authorization is one of the arguments with which the Mozambican police routinely prevent public protest, despite the argument being repeatedly refuted by various entities, the latest issued by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Beatriz Buchili, who a month ago told parliament that “the right to demonstrate is constitutionally enshrined as a fundamental right” and “its exercise cannot be limited or conditioned”.

The PGR had already in 2022 clarified, also in parliament, that the right to hold a demonstration is not subject to the authorization of state entities, a communication about the date, approximate number of participants and points of departure and arrival being sufficient.

The police spokeswoman was also asked on Monday why, in March, the police in Pemba had prevented a posthumous tribute march to rapper and activist Azagaia, to which she replied that at the time “the provincial command received a service order” from the central level on suspicion that violence might be incited.

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

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

“I no longer want to be displaced” read one of the posters held by Milo Mariano, who stood alone, in one of the main streets of Pemba, in an allusion to the circa one million people who had to flee to the city and other places due to armed attacks in the interior of the province.

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

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 employers always require some experience, and that, in order to have an opportunity, it is necessary to be a party member.

“They are trying to silence civil society,” said Gafuro about the police action, launching an appeal for “openness, freedom of expression and demonstration” and asking whether it was a crime to “demonstrate freely, obeying the rules and norms of the Constitution and Article 51”.

Source: Lusa / DW