DW Africa correspondent assaulted by strikers in Inhambane

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DW Africa correspondent assaulted by strikers in Inhambane

7:02 CAT | 20 Sep 2017

DW / Luciano da Conceição, DW Africa correspondent in Inhambane, Mozambique

DW Africa correspondent Luciano da Conceição has been assaulted by strikers and had some of his equipment stolen. He accuses the management at the health centre where the strike took place of protecting the aggressors.

The DW Africa correspondent is in satisfactory condition but is demanding the return of his equipment and compensation for moral damages. We talked to him.

DW Africa: Luciano, tell us how it all happened.

Luciano da Conceição (LC): It happened on Friday (15.09.) when I received a call informing me that a strike would begin at the Health Institute in Maxixe 2:00 p.m.. I arrived at 3:00 p.m., and found students outside, who said that the strike should count on the participation of parents to prevent the closure of two clinical courses.

About ten metres from the precinct, students came up to me and took my bag and the camera. When I get out my phone to call the police [they attacked me], and the institute director rescued me and took me to the office. I told him what had happened to me, and that I had lost some things, and he went to get them back from the students.

DW Africa: Did they beat you up?

LC: Yes, they did.

Mosambik Ausbildungsräume Gesundheitsinstitut in Inhambane — Maxixe Health Institute classroom

DW Africa: And did they say why they were hitting you?

LC: They said they did not want journalists present because they were going to do justice to the [institute’s] director because he was not telling them the truth. The principal had promised a meeting and summoned the students for eight o’clock in the morning, but didn’t turn up until 3:00 p.m. Then all the anger that should have been directed against the director was unloaded onto the press, who were considered an obstacle. They also attacked the Dossier e Factos correspondent before me. I found him at the desk.

DW Africa: Did you get medical care?

LC: Yes, I did. I used another cell phone and got in touch with the Maxixe administrator, who sent the police to my rescue. They took me to the police station to file a complaint because the school management refused to point out the students who attacked me and had taken my equipment.

DW Africa: And you took the case to the police?

LC: Yes. At the hospital I had medical attention and after that they took me to the police. I participated in the case. This morning [19-09], the prosecutor called me and told me to name a lawyer within five days to see if we can follow up on the case. But at the moment I am already working with MISA (Southern African Social Communication Institute).

DW Africa: And have the people who assaulted you been identified?

LC: I personally know these people who did this to me, but since I was in the middle of a lot of people, over a hundred people, it was up to the school’s management to hand them over to the police. And as it was not possible, the school management tried to defend them so they would not be handed over to the police. The police advised me to open a case so that the director of the institute is obliged to identify the students to the organs of justice.

DW Africa: How do you feel and what do you intend to do in this case?

LC: I want to recover the property that I lost there. The phone I used to contact the police was stolen and they still haven’t returned it. And also moral damage compensation for my family, who were very worried.

Source: Deutsche Welle