Mozambique: Police call for respect at Wednesday’s independence commemoration

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Mozambique: Police call for respect at Wednesday’s independence commemoration

7:00 CAT | 25 Jun 2025

Photo: AIM

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) on Tuesday called for respect for security measures to ensure that Wednesday’s 50th anniversary independence ceremonies take place in an “atmosphere of order and tranquillity”.

Speaking to journalists at Machava Stadium, where the main ceremonies are to take place, Leonel Muchina, spokesperson for the PRM general command, asked people to carry only safe, non-hazardous items.

Muchina added that the security measures include a ban on carrying firearms, even if the person has a licence to carry and use them, except for members of the Defence and Security Forces.

The site, where 40,000 people are expected to attend, permits only authorised drones and pyrotechnic objects, and it allows alcoholic beverages only outside the event.

“Non-alcoholic beverages must be carried in non-glass containers, and only people who are sober and not under the influence of psychotropic substances may enter the celebrations,” Muchina added.

Mozambique celebrates 50 years of independence on Wednesday, with the main ceremony in Maputo led by President Daniel Chapo and attended by 32 heads of state, including Portugal’s Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The main ceremonies will take place at the historic Machava Stadium in the Mozambican capital, where the country’s first president, Samora Machel, proclaimed independence in the early hours of 25 June 1975, after a struggle against Portuguese colonial rule that began on 25 September 1964.

In addition to the president’s official speech, the ceremony will include military parades, cultural performances, a message from representatives of citizens who are turning 50 (the same age as independence) and a speech by the leader of Podemos, the largest opposition party.

Organisers expect at least 40,000 people at the Machava stadium, which has an official capacity of 45,000, for an event that also celebrates the arrival of the flame of unity after travelling across the country since 7 April. At that moment, the head of state will use the flame to light the stadium’s pyre.

Source: Lusa